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Landsat Missions

Since 1972, Landsat satellites have continuously acquired images of the Earth’s land surface, providing uninterrupted data to help land managers and policymakers make informed decisions about natural resources and the environment. Data acquired by Landsat satellites are distributed from the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Project Information

Landsat 9 logo

There is a wealth of technical information and statistics about the Landsat Project, Landsat data, and Landsat science products. Statistics about Landsat data availability, distribution and usage are updated quarterly.

News about Landsat

Find the latest news about Landsat missions, data products, data access, and related topics. 

 

Landsat Products and Data Access

Landsat data products are continually being matured into the highest quality possible. These products allow scientists to provide improved and more useful results for land change and use analysis. Landsat data products held in the USGS archives can be searched and downloaded at no charge from a variety of data portals. 

 

Example of the Landsat Archive Dashboard Graphics
Animated image of the Landsat Archive Dashboard.

Useful Tools & Viewers

Various files, tools, converters, and information to better understand Landsat acquisition and how to search for Landsat data and products.

International Collaboration

Landsat has always been an important component of U.S. foreign policy, science, and technology policy. A longstanding network of International Cooperators operate numerous International Ground Stations allowing direct reception and downlink from Landsat satellites. In 2010, International Cooperators started the effort to consolidate Landsat data acquired at worldwide ground station to the USGS archive.

 

Education and Outreach Resources

Landsat education and outreach resources can be used by students, teachers and the general public to further understand the fundamentals of remote sensing, Landsat technology, and how practical applications of Landsat data are helping specialists manage Earth's natural resources for a growing world population.

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News

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Atmospheric Auxiliary Data Changes Affect Landsat 8-9 Level 2 Surface Reflectance Processing

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Using the Power of Landsat and Digital Earth Tools to Understand Coastlines in Australia and Africa

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New Paper Promotes the 50-year Landsat Collection 2 Archive

Publications

Evaluation of Copernicus DEM and comparison to the DEM used for Landsat collection-2 processing

Having highly accurate and reliable Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) of the Earth’s surface is critical to orthorectify Landsat imagery. Without such accuracy, pixel locations reported in the data are difficult to assure as accurate, especially in more mountainous landscapes, where the orthorectification process is the most challenging. To this end, the Landsat Calibration and Validation Team (Cal/
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Shannon Franks, Rajagopalan Rengarajan

ECCOE Landsat quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 3, 2022

Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team
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Md Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Md Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Fatima Tuz Zafrin Tuli, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Shannon Franks, Esad Micijevic, Michael J. Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller

Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Fractional Snow Covered Area science product

The Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Fractional Snow Covered Area science product indicates the percentage of pixels covered by snow for Landsat 4–9 imagery. Landsat’s spatial resolution offers the capability to map snow cover patterns across topographically complex mountainous regions. Snow cover is spatially and temporally variable and is often concentrated in remote or inaccessible land regions, ma

Science

Eyes on Earth Episode 95 – EROS 50th: Landsat Science Team

Landsat Science Teams have advocated for the best data possible for the wide variety of remote sensing users around the world.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 95 – EROS 50th: Landsat Science Team

Landsat Science Teams have advocated for the best data possible for the wide variety of remote sensing users around the world.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 94 – EROS 50th: Collaborations with SDSU

South Dakota State University, a land grant university less than an hour from EROS, has had links to Landsat and EROS throughout their existence.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 94 – EROS 50th: Collaborations with SDSU

South Dakota State University, a land grant university less than an hour from EROS, has had links to Landsat and EROS throughout their existence.
Learn More

Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we reflect on Landsat 8’s 10th anniversary and the satellite’s contribution of 2.5 million scenes to the 50-year Landsat archive.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we reflect on Landsat 8’s 10th anniversary and the satellite’s contribution of 2.5 million scenes to the 50-year Landsat archive.
Learn More