Michelle Bouchard

This Landsat 8 image highlights the McDermitt Caldera, which straddles the Nevada–Oregon border. The yellow boundary outlines the caldera margin, a geologic feature formed by a massive volcanic eruption millions of years ago. Over time, weathering of lithium-rich volcanic material led to the formation of clay deposits within the caldera basin.

The USGS EROS Landsat archive recently reached a milestone of 12 million Landsat Collection 2 Level-1 products. These are available for download at no charge.  The image representing this milestone displays a sprawling desert landscape and contains a multitude of agricultural, geological, and urban features.

The USGS Landsat archive holds over fifty years of Earth-Observing satellite data. This animation displays the cumulative number of Landsat scenes since 1972. The colors on the maps show the density of the number of Landsat Level-1 products. 

A false color Landsat 8 image from July 24, 2024, of Waubay Lake and Bitter Lake in Day County, South Dakota.

This Landsat 9 image from June 13, 2024, shows the Beaufort Sea near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, using the Shortwave Infrared, Near Infrared, and Reds (Band 6|5|4), and sharpened with the with Panchromatic band (Band 8). The cyan tones highlight sea ice and melt ponds, while the red areas represent land and vegetation.

This graphic shows additional tiles available for Collection 2 U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) when compared to Collection 1 U.S. ARD for the same period (1982-2021).

Landsat 9 captured this image of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in eastern Florida on the morning of October 6, 2022. It shows the coast and New Smyrna Beach, which experienced extensive flooding.

Landsat 7 captured this image of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in southwestern Florida, including floodwater and sediment in the ocean, on the morning of October 2, 2022. Sanibel Island is shown at the center with Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral to the right. Naples is the gray urban area in the lower right.

The Aorounga Crater located in Chad, Africa is a large impact crater that appears as a circular depression surrounded by a raised rim, as seen in this Landsat 9 image. The crater is surrounded by a vast expanse of desert and is known for its unique rock ridges, known as yardangs.

Example of the Landsat Collection 2 Provisional Evapotranspiration science product for agricultural fields on the Fucino plain near San Benedetto dei Marsi, Italy. Left: Landsat 9 Collection 2 Natural Color Surface Reflectance Image. Right: Landsat 9 Collection 2 Actual Evapotranspiration Image.

This color infrared image of Southeast South Dakota and Northeast Nebraska was advertised as the first image acquired by Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor on April 18, 1999. 

The Betsiboka River in Northern Madagascar is seen in this Landsat 9 natural color image from December 7, 2021. Extensive logging has left the land vulnerable, and iron rich soils are washed into the river, coloring it a reddish orange as it flows to the Betsiboka estuary delta.

Product ID LC09_L1TP_160071_20211207_20220120_02_T1

Images from the Landsat 9 underfly with Landsat 8 over Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on November 11, 2021. The left image shows the Landsat 8 OLI image and the right image is from Landsat 9 OLI. Both images are shown as a true color image using the red, green, and blue bands (Bands 4,3,2).

This natural color pan sharpened Landsat 7 image from December 18, 2002 shows the remnant or the Larsen B ice shelf after its collapse at the beginning of the year. Landsat’s detailed observations help scientists track changes in ice stability over time.

See the before after image