7 Million Landsat Scenes & Counting!

The Landsat archive has passed
7 million scenes since

Landsat 1 began collecting
data in July of 1972.

This Landsat 8 image from
June 27 represents one

of those millions of scenes.

Across the lower portion of
this image in northeastern Alaska,

clouds cover the Franklin
Mountains area of the Brooks Range.

The Canning River marks the
western border of the

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The prominent mountain range
in the center of the image

running east to west is
the Sadlerochit Mountains.

North of the mountains,
the land becomes a flat-to-hilly

treeless area called the North
Slope coastal plain tundra.

Off the coast, sea ice floats
on the Beaufort Sea, and dark

represents open water in this
summer scene.

Northern Alaska receives sunlight
24 hours a day this time of year.

Landsat normally acquires imagery
on the descending part of its

polar orbit, when the surface
is in sunlight.

During summer, at these high
latitudes, Landsat 8 can acquire

imagery during the ascending
part of its orbit.

The sun angle is different from
typical scenes, with a twilight glow.

The 7+ million Landsat scenes
are available for download

at no charge from the USGS.