National Land Imaging Program

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

lowen@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 13:31:50 EDT

Landsat Collection 2 Level 2 product processing requires auxiliary atmospheric characterization data from multiple external sources. Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 surface reflectance data acquired on October 1, 2023, and onward will utilize a different source of atmospheric characterization data than what has been used previously.

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

mbouchard@usgs.gov — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 20:30:22 EDT

How leading-edge Landsat based Earth observation products and tools are helping us to understand Africa’s and Australia’s coastlines. This is the first in a series of four articles showcasing the socio-economic benefits of Digital Earth Africa and Australia products and services, through user case studies and impact stories.

New Paper Promotes the 50-year Landsat Collection 2 Archive

lowen@contractor.usgs.gov — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:33:10 EDT

Recognizing the need for consistently processed remotely sensed data, the USGS initiated collections-based processing to ensure superior radiometric and geometric quality through time and across all Landsat instruments. In 2016, the entire Level-1 data archive were processed as Collection 1. In preparation for Landsat 9, the USGS archive was reprocessed as Collection 2 in 2020.

EROS 50th History: Responding to Disasters

alloyd@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 15:00:00 EDT

Landsat satellites captured vivid imagery of the massive fires blazing across Canada earlier this year: orange flames, ugly burn scars, thick smoke.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center was ready to share relevant images and data as quickly as possible to agencies responding to the fires.

Upcoming Webinar to Highlight Landsat

lowen@contractor.usgs.gov — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 07:34:59 EDT

The USGS EROS User Experience Webinar series includes presentations about data products as well as useful tools and services that impact users of data accessed from the USGS EROS archive.

The next webinar in the series, “Landsat: Products & Services from the USGS” will be held Tuesday, September 26, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. CDT.

EROS 50th History: Landsat Unites USGS and NASA

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Tue, 5 Sep 2023 09:27:10 EDT

Inspired by early images of the Earth from space, the Department of the Interior and the USGS had a bold idea in the 1960s to launch a satellite to keep a constant eye on Earth. But they needed NASA’s help to pull it off.

Celebrating a Half-Century at EROS

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Fri, 1 Sep 2023 09:18:32 EDT

A half-century of capturing satellite imagery, teaching interpretation, and discovering new land change science distinguishes the USGS Earth Resource and Observation Science (EROS) Center. Celebrate 50 years of data and science with our newly published 50th anniversary website, complete with videos, timelines, articles, podcast episodes, and more!

Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group 51st Meeting Held in Norway

hjwilson@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 12:48:57 EDT

The USGS Landsat International Cooperator Network, in coordination with the Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) and the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA), met for the Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group (LGSOWG) #51 meeting in Tromsø and Svalbard, Norway during the first week of August.

EROS 50th History: Library Provides Mission Support

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 09:50:11 EDT

Fifty years ago, Don Lee Kulow’s personal remote sensing library laid the foundation for today’s library at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

USGS EROS Celebrates 50 Years of a Mission that Matters

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 15:09:00 EDT

Fifty years ago, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) brought people together to work in a new government facility surrounded by South Dakota farm fields. The mission: act as stewards for land remote sensing imagery, especially the scenes collected by the fledgling Landsat satellite, and help people around the world make sense of it to benefit themselves and the planet.

EROS 50th History: Helping the World Through Science

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 09:27:59 EDT

Millions of people in the United States and billions around the world live unaware that employees of a far-off USGS facility surrounded by South Dakota farm fields are working every day, in many different ways, to help improve their lives—and have been for decades.

EROS 50th History: Computers at the Center

alloyd@contractor.usgs.gov — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:47:38 EDT

At an average 64 gigabytes, the smartphone in your pocket or purse has 1 million times more storage than the first computer used by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center: a 60 kilobyte IBM 360-30.

As USGS EROS Turns 50, Director Embraces Future

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 04:30:35 EDT

Dr. Pete Doucette came to the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in 2019 from the USGS in Reston, Virginia, to lead the Integrated Science and Applications Branch—and, he suspects, to “shake things up a little bit.”

EROS 50th History: A Leader in Mapping Land Cover and Change

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 9 Aug 2023 08:29:12 EDT

We become intimately familiar with the land where we live, work and play. The backyard maple where three baby robins left their nest on the fourth branch up this summer. The depression in a farm field that frequently stays too wet for a good yield. The patch of prairie in a favorite state park where wildflowers bloom freely.

Continuing the Tradition – Announcing the Latest in Land Cover from USGS

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 2 Aug 2023 12:24:59 EDT

The USGS has again deployed its decades of experience in land cover mapping with the release of the latest version of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), the definitive land cover database for the United States.

NLCD 2021 Now Available

mbouchard@usgs.gov — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:00:00 EDT

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in association with the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, is pleased to announce the completion and release of the latest epoch of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) for the conterminous U.S.—NLCD 2021.

USGS Uncrewed Aircraft Team Visits USGS EROS

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:23:27 EDT

A small fleet of drones recently buzzed through the sky over the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.

The EROS Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) invited the USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office (NUSO) to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to evaluate how data captured by NUSO’s aircraft match up with data captured by satellites during direct flyovers.

EROS 50th History: Conservation at the Center

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 12:43:19 EDT

From their lofty orbit hundreds of miles above, Landsat satellites leave little imprint on the Earth they continuously monitor—although their data help humans decide how best to preserve their planet.

EROS 50th History: University Collaborations

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:20:24 EDT

From early on, the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center forged relationships and connections with universities that ultimately became symbiotic.

EROS, which celebrates 50 years this year, has offered training and technology opportunities to faculty and students, while also benefiting from university research and skilled graduates-turned-employees.

EROS 50th History, 2000-2023: Data and Science Surge

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 14:53:39 EDT

As a new millennium dawned, the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center looked forward to a future full of new data and new science.

EROS 50th History, 1980-1999: Through Uncertainty to a Firm Footing

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 5 Jul 2023 15:32:11 EDT

Mount St. Helens erupted May 18, 1980, spewing ash into the atmosphere, flattening forests for miles and killing 57 people.

When the ash settled, Landsat captured the aftermath. And the archive at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center proved its value once again, with vivid before and after images showing the extent of the devastation.

EROS 50th History, 1966-1979: How Sioux Falls Ingenuity Secured the Center

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 17:45:00 EDT

“We’ll give the land.”

When a member of the Sioux Falls business community blurted out that promise in Washington, D.C., in early 1970, it tipped the scales in the city’s favor: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, would be the future home of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.

USGS Seeks Remote Sensing Education, Outreach and Research Proposals

wegner@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:34:59 EDT

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently soliciting project proposals for a Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 grant, the National Land Remote Sensing Education, Outreach and Research grant activity, and is authorized to award up to $1,465,000 for the first year.

Upcoming Interruption to Landsat Commercial Cloud Access and Product Downloads

hjwilson@contractor.usgs.gov — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 12:00:00 EDT

From 8:00 a.m. CDT Tuesday, June 27th to 4:00 p.m. CDT Wednesday June 28th, access to some Landsat Collection 2 products will be unavailable while required maintenance updates are made to the Amazon Web Service commercial cloud infrastructure at the USGS EROS Center.

Tree Canopy Cover Product Added to National Land Cover Database

jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov — Fri, 2 Jun 2023 14:02:45 EDT

A newly released Tree Canopy Cover product adds a helpful layer of information to the definitive land cover product National Land Cover Database (NLCD), generated at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in partnership with other agencies.

RCMAP Adds Tree Data to Help ... Sage-Grouse?

alloyd@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 31 May 2023 16:33:41 EDT

A science project that studies ground cover in rangelands across the West has set its sights higher, adding tree cover data to help protect the greater sage-grouse—a species that spends most of its time in sage shrublands.

Landsat 9 Data Reprocessing Complete, Level-3 Products Now Available

thansen@contractor.usgs.gov — Thu, 18 May 2023 12:05:09 EDT

The effort to reprocess all Landsat 9 data held in the USGS EROS Archive since launch is now completed, and for the first time, has enabled the availability of Landsat 9 Level-3 Science Products.

Moon Impacts Recent Landsat 9 Thermal Imagery

lowen@contractor.usgs.gov — Fri, 12 May 2023 09:04:23 EDT

The USGS/NASA Landsat Calibration and Validation Team discovered that four Landsat 9 Earth image intervals acquired on May 10, 2023, were impacted by the presence of the Moon in the calibration data.

GOES-16 ABI Added to Land Product Characterization System

lowen@contractor.usgs.gov — Wed, 3 May 2023 15:05:22 EDT

The USGS Land Product Characterization System allows for the trending of system characterizations for various sensors, and provides the ability to do comparative analysis of Earth observation satellite data and products. A recent update includes the addition of the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI).

Landsat 8 Level-1 Product Processing Resumes

thansen@contractor.usgs.gov — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 11:54:06 EDT

The processing of Landsat 8 Level-1 products has resumed, following a brief pause due to an error that occurred during a standard calibration collect by the satellite’s Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Friday April 21, 2023.