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Designed to last three years, Landsat 5 launched in 1984 and transmitted data until the launch of Landsat 8 in 2013.

The USGS EROS Center is the home of the Landsat satellite archive. This data center and science center located on a former farm near Sioux Falls, SD, is one of the largest civilian archives of land imaging in the world.

Landsat 7’s nominal science mission ended in April 2022 after nearly 23 years of acquiring Earth imagery from 705 kilometers above the Earth. Landsat 7 is now in an extended science mission after having its orbit lowered by about 8 kilometers to make way for Landsat 9.

When disaster strikes, near-real-time images of its effects can be invaluable. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we learn about how a newly developed system using the Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 dataset and artificial intelligence was put to the test when Hurricane Ian tore through Florida in late September 2022.

ECOSTRESS, or ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station, data provides variables related to plant water stress, including evapotranspiration, evaporative stress index and water use efficiency. The NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) at EROS provides storage and distribution of ECOSTRESS data.

The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, instrument on the International Space Station acquires lidar waveforms to observe the Earth’s surface in 3D. The GEDI lidar measures the height and density of objects, so it provides information such as surface elevation and tree canopy height and cover.

The Landsat satellites have been collecting Earth imagery for more than 50 years. A key piece of equipment that moves the data from the spacecraft to the archive so researchers can use it is the antenna at the EROS Center. The antenna and its radome have a fascinating history of their own that adds to the overall Landsat story.

ECOSTRESS, which stands for the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station, collects land surface temperatures in an effort to answer questions about plants’ use of water. The NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) at EROS has provided storage and distribution of ECOSTRESS data for four years now and counting.

My name is Kristen Bennett. I'm at the Astrogeology Science Center and I've been there since 2018.

I'm Lauren Edgar. I'm a research geologist at the USGS astrogeology Science Center here in Flagstaff AZ

The Landsat archive at EROS contains an unparalleled 50 years of Earth observation data. But with earlier technologies, some Landsat scenes were collected and stored only by international ground receiving stations rather than in the central archive at EROS.

Government officials and scientists had high hopes for Landsat when the first experimental satellite launched July 23, 1972. Those hopes were soon realized when imagery came back depicting features never before seen. Since then, an archive of imagery surpassing 10 million scenes has amassed at EROS, collected from eight different Landsat satellites.

We don't need a scientist to tell us that city streets catch and hold heat. Anyone who's walked barefoot from a parking lot to a beach can tell you that. What scientists can help us understand, particularly scientists who work with spaceborne, remotely sensed data, is just how big a difference there is between cities and the countryside.

Spaceborne sensors orbit hundreds of miles over our heads. Even the most advanced among them struggle to capture high-resolution imagery of individual human beings. Mosquitos, of course, are far smaller than we are. Clearly, sensors on a satellite or space station can’t see them.

USGS seismologist Andrew Michael talks about the significance of the 1992 Landers earthquake.

USGS seismologist Andrew Michael talks about the remote location of the 1992 Landers earthquake and how researchers were able to use satellite data to better see the quake’s impacts.

USGS seismologist Joan Gomberg recalls the earthquake on Little Skull Mountain related to the 1992 Landers earthquake.

USGS geologist Jonathan Matti recalls fieldwork in the Mojave Desert soon after the 1992 Landers earthquake. 

USGS seismologist Ruth Harris talks about how the 1992 Landers earthquake caused concern for the San Andreas fault.

USGS field technician Scott Lydeen recalls what the aftermath of the 1992 Landers earthquake looked like.

USGS seismologist Susan Hough talks about her role following the 1992 Landers earthquake and seismic monitoring stations in Southern California.