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Landsat benefiting society for fifty years

January 1, 2018

Since 1972, data acquired by the Landsat series of satellites have become integral to land management for both government and the private sector, providing scientists and decision makers with key information about agricultural productivity, ice sheet dynamics, urban growth, forest monitoring, natural resource management, water quality, and supporting disaster response.

Landsat 9 continues the mission of unrivaled space-based Earth observation and will lead the Landsat program into its second half century of Earth imagery provided to users, worldwide, at no charge. More than 8 million Landsat scenes held in the USGS archive to date are used in conjunction with advanced geographic information systems, image processing software, and cloud computing capabilities to enable Landsat users to study changes on the Earth’s surface across continental regions and extended time periods.

The Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instruments onboard Landsat 9 —which replicate the technologically-advanced instruments introduced onboard Landsat 8—allow for the collection of continuous high-quality data required for advancing Earth applications, including our ability to map surface temperature and surface water quality.

Landsat 9 will build on the Landsat legacy, achieving a half-century record of global Earth observations.

Publication Year 2018
Title Landsat benefiting society for fifty years
Authors Laura E. P. Rocchio, Peggy Connot, Steve Young, Kate Ramsayer, Linda Owen, Michelle Bouchard, Christopher Barnes
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype Federal Government Series
Index ID 70201780
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
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