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Landsat Documents

Documents supporting the USGS Landsat Project

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Landsat Factsheets

Factsheets showing Landsat information

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This page lists the most recent peer-reviewed USGS scientific papers, reports, fact sheets, and other publications about Landsat. 

Landsat Factsheets

Landsat Factsheets present a high-level overview of various concepts.

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Landsat Benefits

State-specific factsheets pinpoint Landsat’s continuing contribution to the health and well-being of the nation’s land resources.

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Landsat Documents

Many documents supporting the USGS Landsat Project are available, covering satellite missions overviews, to specific data and product information. 

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Filter Total Items: 97

Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products

Global changes in climate and land use are threatening natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem services people rely on. This is why it is necessary to track and monitor spatiotemporal change at a level of detail that can inform science, management, and policy development. The current constellation of multiple Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites collecting imagery at...
Authors
Volker C. Radeloff, David P. Roy, Mike Wulder, Martha Anderson, Bruce D. Cook, Christopher J. Crawford, Mark Friedl, Feng Gao, Noel Gorelick, Matthew Hansen, Sean Healey, Patrick Hostert, Glynn Hulley, Justin Huntington, Dave Johnson, Christopher Neigh, Alexei Lyapustin, Leo Lymburner, Nima Pahlevan, Jean-Francois Pekel, Theodore A. Scambos, Crystal Schaaf, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Curtis Woodcock, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu
By
Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

Operational aspects of Landsat 8 and 9 geometry Operational aspects of Landsat 8 and 9 geometry

Landsat 9 (L9) was launched on 27 September 2021. This spacecraft contained two instruments, the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) and Thermal Infrared Sensor-2 (TIRS-2), that allow for a continuation of the Landsat program and the mission to acquire multi-spectral observations of the globe on a moderate scale. Following a period of commissioning, during which time the spacecraft and...
Authors
Michael J. Choate, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Md Nahid Hasan, Alex Denevan, Kathryn Ruslander
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

The 50-year Landsat collection 2 archive The 50-year Landsat collection 2 archive

The Landsat global consolidated data archive now exceeds 50 years. In recognition of the need for consistently processed data across the Landsat satellite series, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated collection-based processing of the entire archive that was processed as Collection 1 in 2016. In preparation for the data from the now successfully launched Landsat 9, the USGS...
Authors
Christopher J. Crawford, David P. Roy, Saeed Arab, Christopher Barnes, Eric Vermote, Glynn Hulley, Aaron Gerace, Michael J. Choate, Christopher Engebretson, Esad Micijevic, Gail L. Schmidt, Cody Anderson, Martha Anderson, Michelle Bouchard, Bruce D. Cook, Ray Dittmeier, Danny Howard, Calli Jenkerson, Minsu Kim, Tania Kleyians, Tom Maiersperger, Chase Mueller, Christopher Neigh, Linda Owen, Benjamin Page, Nima Pahelvan, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Jean-Claude Roger, Kristi L. Sayler, Pat L Scaramuzza, Sergii Skakun, Lin Yan, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu, Stephen G. Zahn
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

Landsat 9 geometric commissioning calibration updates and system performance assessment Landsat 9 geometric commissioning calibration updates and system performance assessment

Starting with launch of Landsat 7 (L7) on 15 April 1999, the USGS Landsat Image Assessment System (IAS) has been performing calibration and characterization operations for over 20 years on the Landsat spacecrafts and their associated payloads. With the launch of Landsat 9 (L9) on 27 September 2021, that spacecraft and its payloads, the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) and Thermal...
Authors
Michael J. Choate, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, James Storey, Mark Lubke
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

Evaluation of Copernicus DEM and comparison to the DEM used for Landsat collection-2 processing 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...
Authors
Shannon Franks, Rajagopalan Rengarajan
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

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

Authors
Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Md Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Fatima Tuz Zafrin Tuli, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Shannon Franks, Esad Micijevic, Mike Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

Improving temporal frequency of Landsat surface temperature products using the gap-filling algorithm Improving temporal frequency of Landsat surface temperature products using the gap-filling algorithm

Remotely sensed surface temperature (ST) has been widely used to monitor and assess landscape thermal conditions, hydrologic modeling, and surface energy balance. Landsat thermal sensors have continuously measured the Earth surface thermal radiance since August 1982. The thermal radiance measurements are atmospherically compensated and converted to Landsat STs and delivered as part of...
Authors
George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Saeed Arab, Chase Mueller, Reza Hussain, Kristi L. Sayler, Danny Howard
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Landsat Missions

Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Fractional Snow Covered Area science product 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...
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Landsat Missions

Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Burned Area science product Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Burned Area science product

Accurate and complete data on fire locations and burned areas are needed to quantify trends and patterns of fire occurrence, characterize drivers of fire, project future fire pattern behavior, and help with assessments of fire effects on natural and social systems. The Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Burned Area science product is designed to identify burned areas across all ecosystems (for...
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Landsat Missions

Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Dynamic Surface Water Extent science product Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Dynamic Surface Water Extent science product

The Landsat Collection 2 Level-3 Dynamic Surface Water Extent science product provides raster data that represent surface water inundation per pixel in Landsat 4–9 imagery. The Collection 2 Dynamic Surface Water Extent science product contains six acquisition-based raster products relating to surface water. Surface water extent is modulated by weather and climate, stream network...
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Landsat Missions

Landsat 9 cross calibration under-fly of Landsat 8: Planning, and execution Landsat 9 cross calibration under-fly of Landsat 8: Planning, and execution

During the early post-launch phase of the Landsat 9 mission, the Landsat 8 and 9 mission teams conducted a successful under-fly of Landsat 8 by Landsat 9, allowing for the near-simultaneous data collection of common Earth targets by the on-board sensors for cross-calibration. This effort, coordinated by the Landsat Calibration and Validation team, required contributions from various...
Authors
Edward Kaita, Brian Markham, Md Obaidul Haque, Donald Dichmann, Aaron Gerace, Lawrence Leigh, Susan Good, Michael Schmidt, Christopher J. Crawford
By
Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions

ECCOE Landsat Quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 2, 2022 ECCOE Landsat Quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 2, 2022

Authors
Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Md Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Fatima Tuz Zafrin Tuli, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Shannon Franks, Esad Micijevic, Mike Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Lawrence Ong
By
National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE), Landsat Missions
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