Landsat
Overview
Since 1972, Landsat satellites have consistently gathered data about our planet for the benefit of the U.S. and the world. The Landsat data archive is the longest continuous remotely sensed global record of Earth’s surface, with all the data free and available to the public. The Landsat satellite missions, jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, are a central pillar of our national remote sensing capability and established the U.S. as a leader in land imaging.
Landsat 9 is the next satellite in the program, and will add more than 700 scenes a day to this invaluable archive. As Earth’s population approaches 8 billion, Landsat 9 will extend our ability to detect and characterize land surface changes, and will do so at a scale where researchers can differentiate between natural and human-induced change.
Land cover and land use are changing globally at rates unprecedented in human history. These changes bring profound consequences for weather, ecosystems, resource management, the economy, carbon storage and emissions, human health, and other aspects of society. Landsat datasets are a critical tool in monitoring and managing essential resources in a changing world.
Below are highlights of Landsat videos and graphics. Follow this link to see the entire collection of Landsat multimedia.
How It Works
- Produced Video
Landsat 8 - A Decade of Service
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- Produced Video
Landsat's Next Chapter
Complete transcript available. || NASA_L-Next_Teaser_Final_edit.02360_print.jpg (1024x576) [77.7 KB] || NASA_L-Next_Teaser_Final_edit.02360_searchweb.png (320x180) [49.7 KB] || NASA_L-Next_Teaser_Final_edit.02360_thm.png (80x40) [4.7 KB] || NASA_L-Next_Teaser_Final_edit.mp4 (1920x1080) [182.2 MB] || NASA_L-Next_Teaser_Final_edit.webm (1920x1080) [11.3 MB] || L-Next-Teaser_edit.en_US.srt [1.2 KB] || L-Next-Teaser_edit.en_US.vtt [1.2 KB] ||
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Landsat 9 Data Release
The data from Landsat 9 is available for anyone to download from the USGS data archive. Launched on Sept. 27, 2021, the new satellite and its instruments went through testing and calibration by the mission team. Now, with both Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 in orbit, there will be high-quality, medium-resolution images of Earth’s landscapes and coastal regions every eight days.Music: Amazing Discoveries by Damien Deshayes [SACEM], published by KTSA Publishing [SACEM] available from Universal Production Music; The Troubleshooter by Anders Johan Greger Lewen [STIM], published by Primetime Productions, Ltd [PRS]; Bright Patterns by Gregg Lehrman [ASCAP] and John Christopher Nye [ASCAP], published by Soundcast Music [SESAC]Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 14086_Landsat9_data-print.jpg (1920x1080) [626.5 KB] || 14086_Landsat9_data-print_searchweb.png (320x180) [53.8 KB] || 14086_Landsat9_data-print_thm.png (80x40) [4.7 KB] || 14086_Landsat9_data_MASTER-pr.mov (1920x1080) [3.1 GB] || 14086_Landsat9_data-yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [369.6 MB] || 14086_Landsat9_data-tw.mp4 (1920x1080) [50.5 MB] || 14086_Landsat9_data-yt.webm (1920x1080) [25.2 MB] || 14086_Landsat9_data.en_US.srt [4.9 KB] || 14086_Landsat9_data.en_US.vtt [4.7 KB] ||
- Produced Video
Landsat 9 First Light Images
The first data from Landsat 9, of Australia's Kimberley Coast in Western Australia, shows off the capabilities of the two instruments on the spacecraft. This image, from the Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI-2, was acquired on Oct. 31, 2021. Although similar in design to its predecessor Landsat 8, the improvements to Landsat 9 allow it to detect more subtle differences, especially over darker areas like water or the dense mangrove forests along the coast. || L9_Australia_20211031_p109r070-lrg.jpg (7621x7811) [24.2 MB] || L9_Australia_20211031_p109r070-lrg_searchweb.png (320x180) [106.1 KB] || L9_Australia_20211031_p109r070-lrg_thm.png (80x40) [7.1 KB] || L9_Australia_20211031_p109r070-lrg.tif (7621x7811) [340.6 MB] ||
- Produced Video
A Trip Through Time with Landsat 9
For half a century, the Landsat mission has shown us Earth from space. Now, come along with us on a ‘roadtrip’ through the decades to see how the technology on this NASA and U.S. Geological Survey partnership has evolved with the times to provide an unbroken data record. Our roadtrip begins with the idea for an Earth-observing sensor in the 1960s and then cruises through the first game-changing launches in the 1970s, the advent of natural color composite images in the 1980s, the increased global coverage in the 1990s, the move to free and open data archives in the 2000s, the modern era of Landsat observations in the 2010s, and now the launch of Landsat 9 in 2021. Landsat satellites have allowed us to better manage our natural resources, and will continue to help people track the effects of climate change into the future.The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat 9 Launch Footage
Video showing the countdown and launch of Landsat 9, on Monday, Sept 27, 2021. The satellite launched at 2:12pm EDT, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, riding on and Atlas V rocket. || L9_launch_footage_print.jpg (1280x720) [232.9 KB] || L9_launch_footage_print_searchweb.png (320x180) [70.4 KB] || L9_launch_footage_print_thm.png (80x40) [5.3 KB] || L9_launch_footage.mp4 (1280x720) [42.0 MB] || L9_launch_footage.webm (1280x720) [6.7 MB] || L9_launch_footage-captions.en_US.srt [1.0 KB] || L9_launch_footage-captions.en_US.vtt [997 bytes] ||
- Produced Video
Landsat 9 Spacecraft Animations and Stills
Landsat 9 is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, and will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the land resources needed to sustain human life. The mission will provide moderate-resolution (15 meter to 100 meter, depending on spectral frequency) measurements of the Earth's terrestrial and polar regions in visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared wavelengths. There are two instruments on the spacecraft, the Thermal InfraRed Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) and the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2).Landsat 9 will provide continuity with the nearly 50-year long Landsat land imaging data set. In addition to widespread routine use for land use planning and monitoring on regional to local scales, support of disaster response and evaluations, and water use monitoring, Landsat measurements directly serve NASA research in the focus areas of climate, carbon cycle, ecosystems, water cycle, biogeochemistry, and Earth surface/interior.The Landsat program is the only U.S. satellite system designed and operated to repeatedly observe the global land surface at a moderate scale that shows both natural and human-induced change. ||
- Animation
Landsat Lightpath Animations
For nearly half a century, the Landsat mission has shaped our understanding of Earth. Since the launch of the first Landsat satellite in 1972, the mission has gathered and archived more than 8 million images of our home planet’s terrain, including crop fields and sprawling cities, forests and shrinking glaciers. These data-rich images are free and publicly available, leading to scientific discoveries and informed resource management.Landsat 9 will carry two instruments that largely replicate the instruments on Landsat 8: the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2). OLI-2 and TIRS-2 are optical sensors that detect 11 wavelengths of visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared light as it is reflected or emitted from the planet’s surface. Data from these instruments are processed and stored at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota—where decades worth of data from all of the Landsat satellites are stored and made available for free to the public.The Landsat mission, a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has provided the longest continuous record of Earth’s land surfaces from space. The consistency of Landsat’s land-cover data from sensor to sensor and year to year makes it possible to trace land-cover changes from 1972 to the present, and it will continue into the future with Landsat 9. With better technology than ever before, Landsat 9 will enhance and extend the data record to the 50-year mark and beyond. ||
- Visualization
Landsat with Sentinel - Global Coverage
This visualization depicts the orbits and data swaths of the Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel 2a, and Sentinel 2b satellites. The satellites appear one at a time with their respective data swaths. As time progresses throughout the visualization, the satellites ‘paint’ the globe with imagery to show how the four spacecraft work together to build a complete picture of the Earth. || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_print.jpg (1024x576) [55.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_searchweb.png (320x180) [62.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [29.1 MB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [8.1 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k/ (3840x2160) [512.0 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [82.6 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Landsat Orbit Swath
This visualization of the orbit of Landsat 8 is narrated by Jim Irons, LDCM Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.As a Landsat satellite flies over the surface of the Earth the instruments aboard the satellite are able to view a swath 185 kilometers wide and collect images along that swath as the satellite proceeds through its orbit. The spacecraft travels at approximately 4.7 miles per second. The satellite travels from north to south while it's over the sunlit portion of the Earth, and travels south to north over the dark side of the Earth. One orbit takes about 99 minutes, so that's about approximately 15 orbits in a 24 hour period. The orbit's maintained such that after 16 days, the entire surface of the Earth has come within view of the Landsat instruments, while sunlit, and then on day 17 the first ground path is repeated. So we get to view the entire surface once every 16 days. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat 8 Onion Skin
Landsat satellites circle the globe every 99 minutes, collecting data about the land surfaces passing underneath. After 16 days, the Landsat satellite has passed over every spot on the globe, and recorded data in 11 different wavelength regions. The individual wavelength bands can be combined into color images, with different combinations of the 11 bands revealing different information about the condition of the land cover.The data for this video was collected by Landsat 5 on November 10, 2011. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat sensors: pushbroom vs whiskbroom
Landsat collects images in long narrow strips called “swaths.” Each swath is 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide and is 2,752 kilometers (1,710 miles) from the next adjacent swath taken that day. It takes 16 days for the swaths to overlap enough to image the whole Earth.Previous Landsat sensors swept back and forth across the swath like a whisk broom to collect data. The sensor looked at a calibration source at the end of every row, which means that measurements were consistent from orbit to orbit. But this sensor design requires fast-moving parts, which are more likely to break.—and which did on Landsat 7.In contrast, the instruments on Landsat 8 view across the entire swath at once, building strips of data like a pushbroom. This approach requires no moving parts and gives the sensor detectors greater dwell time. The pushbroom instrument is smaller and lighter than previous whisk broom instruments, but its calibration is much more complex given the large number of detectors.“It was a natural step to evolve to a pushbroom sensor. The technology was proven on other satellites, and we knew we could get better accuracy. The pushbroom has no moving parts. It is a newer and more reliable technology.” explains Terry Arvidson, senior project engineer.For more information on the future of Landsat instruments, read https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat-9/instruments/. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat 9: Continuing the Legacy series
Five decades ago, NASA and the US Geological Society launched a satellite to monitor Earth’s land from space. It was the beginning of a legacy. The Apollo era had given us our first looks at Earth from space and inspired the idea of regularly collecting images of our planet. The first Landsat — originally known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, or ERTS — rocketed into space in 1972. Since then, there have been eight Landsats and we’re preparing to launch number nine.The Landsat legacy stretches far and wide. Using visible and infrared light, Landsat helps track the health of crops, shows ocean pollution, and tracks coral reefs, icebergs and more. Thanks to sensor that can record wavelengths beyond what we can see with our eyes, Landsat can record vital information about Earth's surface.Narrated by the actor Marc Evan Jackson, who played a Landsat scientist in the movie Kong: Skull Island (2017), this series of videos tells the story of Landsat 9. From the birth of the Landsat program to the present preparations for launching Landsat 9 and even a look to the future with Landsat NeXt. ||
- Produced Video
9 Things About Landsat 9
In anticipation of the launch of Landsat 9, we count down 9 things about the Landsat mission, the science, the technology and the people who continue its legacy. Each item on the list had a short video that was released in the nine days leading up to the launch. They are compiled into one video that was released on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat—From the Archives
The Landsat program is the longest continuous global record of Earth observations from space — ever. On July 23, 1972 NASA launched the first satellite in this program, then known as ERTS, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite and later renamed Landsat 1. In honor of that history, NASA edited together selections of an archive video from 1973 about the ERTS launch.Featured in this 1973 video was a senior geologist at NASA, Nicholas Short, and at Dartmouth College, Robert Simpson and David Lindgren. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a nearly 50-year archive of Landsat data that is freely available over the Internet. The next Landsat satellite, known as Landsat 9, is scheduled for launch in 2021.For more information about Landsat visit www.nasa.gov/landsat, or landsat.usgs.govTo watch the entire 23-minute long NASA archive video of the ERTS Launch, go here. ||
- Produced Video
OLI-2 ships to Northrop Grumman
The Operational Land Imager 2, or OLI-2, will detect visible and infrared light from Earth's surface, providing data on our changing planet. OLI-2 was built and tested at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. Landsat 9, a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, is a series of satellites that began with Landsat 1 in 1972.Music: Bit Streaming, composed by David Edwards [ASCAP], published by Soundcast Music [SESAC] Complete transcript available. || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_still.jpg (1920x1080) [555.8 KB] || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [110.3 KB] || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_still_thm.png (80x40) [8.5 KB] || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_MASTER.mov (1920x1080) [3.5 GB] || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [217.5 MB] || 13329_OLI-2_Ships_large.webm (1920x1080) [19.2 MB] || 13329_OLI-2_ships-captions.en_US.srt [1.4 KB] || 13329_OLI-2_ships-captions.en_US.vtt [1.4 KB] ||
- Produced Video
TIRS-2 Ready For Integration
The Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) has passed its tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and traveled across the country to be integrated onto Landsat 9.Music: Last Outpost by Lennert Busch [PRS], published by Sound Pocket Music [PRS]Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || TIRS-2_shipping_20190813-28_print.jpg (1024x576) [83.4 KB] || TIRS-2_shipping_20190813-28.png (3840x2160) [10.7 MB] || TIRS-2_shipping_20190813-28_searchweb.png (320x180) [82.4 KB] || TIRS-2_shipping_20190813-28_thm.png (80x40) [5.8 KB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships_MASTER_V3.mov (1920x1080) [2.6 GB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships.mp4 (1920x1080) [160.5 MB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships_MASTER_V3_facebook_720.mp4 (1280x720) [91.2 MB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships_MASTER_V3.webm (960x540) [33.0 MB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships-captions.en_US.srt [1.2 KB] || 13292_TIRS-2_Ships-captions.en_US.vtt [1.2 KB] ||
- Section
Yellowstone Burn Recovery
A combination of lightning, drought and human activity caused fires to scorch more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988. Within a year, burn scars cast a sharp outline on the 793,880 acres affected by fire, distinguishing wide sections of recovering forest, meadows, grasslands and wetlands from unburned areas of the park. After more than two decades, satellite instruments can still detect these scars from space.In the time-lapse video below, a series of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone's forests following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.Landsat Project Scientist Jeff Masek has been studying the recovery of the forest after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. In the video below, he talks about how Landsat satellites detect the burn scars from space and distinguish them from healthy, un-burned forest and from new growth.
- Produced Video
Landsat 8 Overview
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will continue the Landsat Program's 40-year data record of monitoring Earth's landscapes from space. LDCM will expand and improve on that record with observations that advance a wide range of Earth sciences and contribute to the management of agriculture, water and forest resources.The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The first Landsat satellite launched in 1972 and the next satellite in the series, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission — LDCM, is scheduled to launch on February 11, 2013 ||
- Section
TIRS - the Thermal Infrared Sensor on LDCM
The Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) is one of the instruments on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite. It will continue the archive of thermal imaging and support emerging applications such as evapotranspiration rate measurements for water management. TIRS is being built by NASA GSFC and has a three-year design life.In February 2012, TIRS was shipped from GSFC to Orbital Sciences Corporation in Gilbert, Arizona to be integrated with the LDCM spacecraft.TIRS operates in a pushbroom mode to create images in two IR bands, centered at 10.8 and 12.0 microns, over a 185 km swath with a 100 m spatial resolution. The TIRS design includes cryogenically-cooled QWIP detector arrays and a steerable mirror to choose among 3 views: nadir for Earth observations, on-board warm blackbody for calibration, and deep space for calibration. The TIRS data will be registered to the OLI data to create radiometrically, geometrically, and terrain-corrected 12-bit LDCM data products.
- Produced Video
TIRS TVAC1 Opening The Vacuum Chamber
The Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) is part of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) to continue thermal imaging and to support emerging applications such as evapotranspiration rate measurements for water management. TIRS is being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has a three-year design life.TIRS completed its first round of thermal vacuum testing on Tuesday, October 4, marking the first time engineers evaluated the fully-assembled instrument at its normal operating temperature. When operational, TIRS is only 43 Kelvin (-382 °F). Such a cold temperature is necessary so the instrument itself does not overwhelm the heat radiated by Earth.The Landsat Program is a series of Earth observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all. ||
Benefits to Society
- Produced Video
Landsat 9 at Work
Landsat 9, launching September 2021, will collect the highest quality data ever recorded by a Landsat satellite, while still ensuring that these new measurements can be compared to those taken by previous generations of the Earth-observing satellite. Landsat 9 will enable or improve measurements of water quality, glacial ice velocity, crop water usage, and much more.Music: The Waiting Room by Sam Dodson [PRS], Afterglow by Christopher Timothy White [PRS], both published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]; and Inner Strength by Brava/Dsilence/Input/Output [SGAE], published by El Murmullo Sarao [SGAE] and Universal Sarao [SGAE]. Available from Universal Production Music. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work_print.jpg (1024x576) [202.5 KB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work_print.png (1920x1080) [3.3 MB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work_print_thm.png (80x40) [6.4 KB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work_searchweb.png (320x180) [100.7 KB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-hd-yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [346.2 MB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-hd-tw.mp4 (1920x1080) [50.9 MB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-hd-yt.webm (1920x1080) [25.3 MB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-UHD-pr.mov (3840x2160) [11.8 GB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-UHD-yt.mp4 (3840x2160) [872.4 MB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-captions.en_US.srt [5.1 KB] || 13889_Landsat9_at_Work-captions.en_US.vtt [4.9 KB] ||
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Landsat Helps Warn of Algae in Lakes and Rivers
From space, satellites including the NASA and U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Landsat 8 can help scientists identify lakes where an algal bloom has formed. It’s a complicated data analysis process, but one that researchers are automating so resource managers around the country can use the satellite data to identify potential problems.Music: Light From Dark by Adam Salkedi, Neil Pollard [PRS], published by Atmosphere Music Ltd.; Experimental Design by Laurent Dury [SACEM], published by Koka Media; Against The Wall by Benjamin Peter McAvoy [PRS], published by Sound Pocket Music; Brainstorming by Laurent Dury[SACEM], published by Koka Media; Together As One by Le Fat Club [SACEM], Olivier Grim [SACEM]; published by Koka Media.Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13800_aquatic_reflection_poster.png (1564x936) [2.7 MB] || 13800_aquatic_reflection_poster_print.jpg (1024x612) [237.1 KB] || 13800_aquatic_reflection_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [130.5 KB] || 13800_aquatic_reflection_poster_thm.png (80x40) [10.8 KB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance_prores.mov (1920x1080) [5.3 GB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance_yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [632.1 MB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance_fb.mp4 (1920x1080) [473.0 MB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance_tw-720.mp4 (1280x720) [161.2 MB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance_yt.webm (1920x1080) [21.7 MB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance-captions.en_US.srt [9.4 KB] || 13800_aquatic_reflectance-captions.en_US.vtt [9.0 KB] ||
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Technology Meets Conservation
In a constantly changing world, the protection of our planet’s endangered species and ecosystems is a priority for ecologists. Recently, a group of researchers at the University of Idaho have worked to combine their extensive on-the-ground research of the endangered Yuma Ridgway’s rail with Landsat’s vast archive, to create a habitat suitability model that can be used by land managers. By using this model, it gives land managers the tools and data to make decisions of how to best carry out conservation for the Yuma Ridgway’s rail on a year to year basis. With the success of this initial model, it’s hypothesized that this tool will be able to help additional species in the area and others down the road.To view the map, click https://sites.google.com/view/habitatsuitability-yrr/homeThe Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites have been consistently gathering data about our planet since 1972. They continue to improve and expand this unparalleled record of Earth's changing landscapes for the benefit of all. ||
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Go Now! Landsat & the Calypso Caper
During the summer of 1975, Jacques Cousteau and his divers helped NASA determine if Landsat could measure the depth of shallow ocean waters. The story of this NASA-led satellite bathymetry experiment unfolds through the photography and expedition documents preserved by David Lychenheim, the expedition’s communications engineer. Research done during that expedition determined that in certain conditions Landsat could measure depths up to 22 meters (72 feet), which gave birth to the field of satellite-derived bathymetry. This new technology enabled charts in clear water areas around the world to be revised, helping boats and deep-drafted supertankers avoid running aground on hazardous shoals or seamounts.Music: “Science of Life,” “Moving In Thought,” and “The Right Move” by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS] & David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS], “Midsummer” by Uwe Buschkotter [GEMA], “The Grand Opening” by Laurent Dury [SACEM], “Drifting Satellite” by Théo Boulenger [SACEM], “Man and Machine” by Larry Groupe [BMI], “A Little Optimism 1” by Joel Goodman [ASCAP], “Easy Does It” by Alchemist [SIAE], “Variations” by Stephan Sechi [ASCAP], “Bright and Playful” by Oscar Lo Brutto [PRS]; via Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau_poster.png (1920x1080) [3.1 MB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau_poster_print.jpg (1024x576) [287.2 KB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [114.6 KB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau_poster_thm.png (80x40) [8.1 KB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-pr.mov (1920x1080) [7.2 GB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [938.3 MB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-tw.mp4 (1280x720) [301.1 MB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-tw.webm (1280x720) [59.6 MB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-captions.en_US.srt [11.3 KB] || 13907_Landsat_Cousteau-captions.en_US.vtt [10.8 KB] ||
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Arctic Greening Driven by Warmer Temperatures
Data from NASA/USGS Landsat satellites show that during 1985-2016, vegetation in the arctic tundra showed a 38% increase in greenness – representing plants growing more, becoming denser, and/or shrubs encroaching on typical tundra grasses and moss.Complete transcript available.Music: The Rework, by Josslin Bordat [SACEM], published by Koka Media [SACEM], available from Universal Production Music || 13723_ArcticGreening-468.jpg (1421x800) [140.8 KB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-468_searchweb.png (320x180) [87.7 KB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-468_thm.png (80x40) [11.2 KB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-v2.mp4 (1920x1080) [110.1 MB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-v2-twitter.mp4 (1920x1080) [34.0 MB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-v2.webm (1920x1080) [12.0 MB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-v2.en_US.srt [2.0 KB] || 13723_ArcticGreening-v2.en_US.vtt [2.0 KB] ||
- Produced Video
Bird's-eye View of Biodiversity with Landsat
Temperature data from the Landsat 8 satellite is used by scientists at University of Wisconsin-Madison to predict bird biodiversity in winter months. Turns out, having a habitat with pockets of different temperatures – like a grove of trees in an open field, or a nest or snow burrow – is especially important for small-bodied bird species and those threatened by climate change. Music: Life Cycles by Theo Golding [PRS], published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13585_Bird_Temp_poster.png (1280x720) [1.3 MB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_poster_print.jpg (1024x576) [108.6 KB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [92.2 KB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_poster_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_prores.mov (1280x720) [1.0 GB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_youtube.mp4 (1280x720) [129.4 MB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_twitter.mp4 (1280x720) [64.3 MB] || 13585_Bird_Temp_youtube.webm (1280x720) [16.6 MB] || 13585_Bird_Temp.en_US.srt [2.9 KB] || 13585_Bird_Temp.en_US.vtt [2.8 KB] ||
- Produced Video
Landsat: Farming Data From Space
Landsat satellites have been gathering data for 48 years, equipping scientists and farmers to answer big questions about how to improve agriculture around the world. From tracking crop production, assessing crop health, and monitoring water use, Landsat data provides tangible benefits to the USA and the world. Landsat satellites are built and lauched by NASA, and operated by USGS. Complete transcript available.Music: "Lines of Enquiry" by Theo Golding [PRS], published by Atmosphere Music [PRS]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || LandsatAg-Thumbnail.png (1920x1080) [4.0 MB] || LandsatAg-Thumbnail_print.jpg (1024x576) [166.3 KB] || LandsatAg-Thumbnail_searchweb.png (320x180) [109.3 KB] || LandsatAg-Thumbnail_thm.png (80x40) [6.6 KB] || LandsatAg-FINAL.mov (1920x1080) [3.2 GB] || LandsatAg-FINAL_youtube_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [148.1 MB] || LandsatAg-FINAL_facebook_720.mp4 (1280x720) [110.9 MB] || LandsatAg-FINAL_twitter_720.mp4 (1280x720) [20.1 MB] || LandsatAg-FINAL.webm (960x540) [39.3 MB] || LandsatAg-FINAL-captions.en_US.srt [1.8 KB] || LandsatAg-FINAL-captions.en_US.vtt [1.8 KB] ||
- Produced Video
Tracking Agricultural Water Use from Space
Water managers in 15 states accross the U.S. use METRIC technology to monitor and track agricultural water consumption. Nebraksa has 23 natural resource districts and more than 10 major river basins, making this satellite-based technology a critical part of managing water resources. For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || Ayse.jpg (2746x1545) [431.0 KB] || Ayse_searchweb.png (320x180) [94.5 KB] || Ayse_thm.png (80x40) [7.4 KB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [133.7 MB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377.webm (960x540) [93.9 MB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_prores.mov (1280x720) [3.6 GB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377.mpeg (1280x720) [867.1 MB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [584.5 MB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_HD.wmv (1280x720) [63.1 MB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [133.8 MB] || Tracking_Agricultural_Water_From_Space.en_US.vtt [3.1 KB] || Tracking_Agricultural_Water_From_Space.en_US.srt [3.1 KB] || G2015-077_Nebraska_Water_Management_1_VX-210377_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [45.5 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Landsat Helps Feed the Birds
The BirdReturns program, created by The Nature Conservancy of California, is an effort to provide "pop-up habitats" for some of the millions of shorebirds, such as sandpipers and plovers, that migrate each year from their summer breeding grounds in Alaska and Canada to their winter habitats in California, Mexico, Central and South America. The route takes the birds along what’s called the Pacific Flyway, where they seek out the increasingly rare wetlands teeming with tasty insects to fuel their long-distance flights. The Nature Conservancy of California operates the BirdReturns program, with partners including Point Blue Conservation Science, Audubon California and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Over the last century, California's Central Valley has lost 95% of the wetlands habitat, which is needed for the shorebirds while on their migration. The solution involves big data, binoculars and rice paddies. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird program collects on-the-ground observations, including species and date spotted, from bird watchers nationwide. With a recent NASA grant to Cornell, scientists created computer models to analyze that information and combine it with satellite remote sensing imagery from Landsat and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instruments on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. With these models, they could identify areas in the Central Valley where birds flocked to during the spring and fall migrations, as well as estimate the number of birds making the journey.Some of his colleagues had been using Landsat images to look at where – and when – there was standing water, to assist with surveys of shorebirds.The nonprofit Point Blue, based in Petaluma, California, developed models that can classify habitats based on Landsat imagery. For the BirdReturns project, the team analyzed 1,500 Landsat scenes between 2000 and 2011, and then additional images from Landsat 8 after its 2013 launch. For each area not blocked by clouds, they classified whether there was surface water.Matching the location and timing of surface water from Landsat with the route and timing of migrating shorebirds from eBird, the BirdReturns program looks for those key sites where extra water would make a difference for the birds, which forage for food in the wetland areas. The Nature Conservancy then uses a reverse auction where farmers try to submit the lowest bid to turn their empty fields into a pop-up wetland for the few weeks the birds are stopping in the Central Valley while on their migration.We would like to thank the Point Blue and The Nature Conservancy for supplying Central Valley water data. Least sandpiper data courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology, eBird Basic Dataset. Version: EBD_relMay-2013. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. May 2013. ||
- Produced Video
Lakes On A Glacier
A view of Greenland's ice sheet from the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite, narrated by Dr. Allen Pope. The data enables Dr. Pope to measure the depth of the lakes that form on the surface every summer as the snow and ice melts. The data in this image are from July 12, 2014, and shows the area just south of the Jakobshavn Glacier.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier-print.jpg (1024x576) [430.4 KB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_youtube_hq_searchweb.png (320x180) [71.3 KB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_youtube_hq_thm.png (80x40) [4.8 KB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_youtube_1920.mp4 (1920x1080) [132.4 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [391.1 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [78.9 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER.mpeg (1280x720) [560.6 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [80.6 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [2.3 GB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_prores-1920.mov (1920x1080) [4.3 GB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER.webm (960x540) [67.1 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [79.0 MB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier-captions.en_US.srt [3.0 KB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier-captions.en_US.vtt [3.0 KB] || G2015-056_Lakes_On_A_Glacier_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [28.0 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Wyoming Snowmelt 2013
Images from NASA/USGS Landsat satellites show the snowcover in Wyoming's Fremont Lake Basin throughout 2013. NASA scientists have used Landsat data from 1972-2013 to determine that the snow is melting 16 days earlier. || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_nasaportal_print.jpg (1024x576) [212.1 KB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_nasaportal_searchweb.png (320x180) [143.5 KB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_nasaportal_web.png (320x180) [143.5 KB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_nasaportal_thm.png (80x40) [8.7 KB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [15.1 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_appletv.m4v (960x540) [6.1 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_prores.mov (1280x720) [234.7 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [6.9 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_appletv.webm (960x540) [1.5 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [4.5 MB] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [2.3 MB] || GSFC_20150323_Wyoming_m11818_Snowmelt.en_US.vtt [64 bytes] || Wyoming_Snowmelt_2013_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [1.0 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Vegetation Response to Lower Colorado River pulse flow in 2014
Using data from NASA/USGS satellite Landsat 8, scientists have measured how vegetation in the Colorado River Delta has responded to the pulse of water released in March 2014 as part of the Minute 319 bi-national agreement.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse.png (1280x720) [1.6 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse_web.png (320x180) [107.0 KB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube.mov (1280x720) [122.1 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_appletv.m4v (960x540) [56.2 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [2.0 GB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [64.6 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [56.1 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_720x480.webm (720x480) [15.5 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [55.5 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [22.7 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_720x480.wmv (720x480) [57.5 MB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-captions.en_US.vtt [2.4 KB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-captions.en_US.srt [2.4 KB] || G2014-108_Colorado_Pulse-youtube_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [12.4 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Monitoring Changes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Landsat is a critical and invaluable tool for characterizing the landscape and mapping it over time. Landsat data provides a baseline of observations for science about how human activities on the land affect water quality, affect wildlife habitat, affect air quality. The satellite imagery covers the entire 64,000 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay watershed (spanning six states and the District of Columbia). Without it we wouldn't be able to really understand how sources of nutrients and sediment have changed and where they are in the Chesapeake Bay. The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The narration in this video is by Peter Claggett, a research geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey's Eastern Geographic Science Center. He has worked at the Chesapeake Bay Program Office since 2002, where he leads the Land Data Team that conducts research on land change characterization, analysis, and modeling in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The audio was adapted from a radio interview with EarthSky.org. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat: Making a Difference, One User At A Time
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission will continue the legacy of the 40-year Landsat program. This video examines two uses of Landsat data to monitor agriculture. Both wineries and timber companies rely on Landsat data to check whether their crops are getting enough (or too much) water and fertilizer.For complete transcript, click here. || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_ipod_lg.01727_print.jpg (1024x576) [21.4 KB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_ipod_lg_web.png (320x180) [19.5 KB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_ipod_lg_thm.png (80x40) [2.4 KB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [133.3 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_appletv.m4v (960x540) [104.9 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [120.8 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [3.5 GB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_720x480.webmhd.webm (960x540) [53.6 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER.mov (640x360) [101.6 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [42.5 MB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_720x480.wmv (720x480) [112.3 MB] || GSFC_20120927_Landsat_m11097_Users_Ag.en_US.srt [4.5 KB] || GSFC_20120927_Landsat_m11097_Users_Ag.en_US.vtt [4.3 KB] || G2012-071_Landsat_Users_Ag_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [22.8 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Tracking Urban Change With Landsat
For helping communities across the United States stay up-to-date on their flood risk, the NASA/USGS Landsat satellites can take a bow. The Federal Emergency Management Agency uses Landsat images, which can illustrate urban changes, as a key indicator of sites where the agency should further investigate the flooding potential. With its archive of images capturing sprawling cities and new developments, Landsat can help FEMA track how building and construction is impacting an area’s landscapeEarth-observing Landsat satellites have been capturing images of the planet’s surface since 1972. Landsat 8 is the newest satellite in the program, a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. It launched Feb. 11, 2013, and collects more than 400 images per day. New and archived Landsat data are available free to the public over the internet – and researchers have put the data to a multitude of uses. One is called the National Urban Change Indicator, or NUCI, created by MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, LTD. It’s the results from a process that mines Landsat images over a 27-year period to identify areas of “permanent change,” where soil has been paved over for parking lots or other concrete structures.NUCI results act as a red flag for FEMA, helping the agency focus its mapping efforts and budget. But if maps identify a high risk of floods for a certain community, residents can take action, including elevating houses, building flood barricades, and more. ||
- Produced Video
Mapping The Future With Landsat
Many non-profits are using Landsat as a tool to identify and protect areas that are important for conservation. This video shows how The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has used Landsat in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to protect a wildlife corridor in the Maringa Lopori Wanga (MLW) region. This area is located in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) immediately south of the Congo River. Within its borders are two major reserves: The Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve and the Luo Scientific Reserve. Wildlife travels between these two reserves via a natural wildlife corridor. With Landsat, the AWF identified this corridor as a critical area for conservation and then began working with the DRC government and local communities to map the region. This process has had and will have significant impact on land use planning and zoning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat Observes Barrier Islands
A survey of barrier islands published in 2011 in the Journal of Coastal Research offers the most thorough assessment to date of the thousands of small islands that hug the coasts of the world's landmasses. The study, led by Matthew Stutz of Meredith College and Orrin Pilkey of Duke University, raises new questions about how the unique islands form and evolve over time - and how they may fare as the climate changes and sea level rises. It was based on a global collection of satellite images as well as information from topographic and navigational charts. Landsat 7 acquired the images around 2000, but a private company mosaicked them as part of an effort funded by NASA and the United States Geological Survey. || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_sm.00552_print.jpg (1024x768) [85.4 KB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_sm_web.png (320x240) [113.1 KB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_sm_thm.png (80x40) [16.3 KB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_sm_searchweb.png (320x180) [86.4 KB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [78.3 MB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_appletv.m4v (960x540) [62.8 MB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey.wmv (1280x720) [70.7 MB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_prores.mov (1280x720) [2.2 GB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_appletv.webmhd.webm (960x540) [28.9 MB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey.mov (640x360) [59.1 MB] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [24.9 MB] || GSFC_20110526_Barrier_m10774_Islands.en_US.vtt [42 bytes] || Barrier_Islands_Survey_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [13.2 MB] ||
- Produced Video
Mississippi Flooding 2011
Heavy spring rains and snowmelt led to devastating floods along the Mississippi River in May 2011. Landsat 5 flew over the Mississippi River on May 10, 2011, giving a distinct view of the extraordinary extent of the flooding. This was only eight days after the Army Corps of Engineers began blasting holes in earthen levees near Cairo, Illinois, when the river reached a depth of 61 feet. The extent of the 2011 flooding is compared with the same locations in April 2010. ||
- Produced Video
Landsat: A Space Age Water Gauge
Agriculture consumes a great deal of water. As demand for water increases, the pressure's on to make sure every drop counts. ||
- Produced Video
Wildfire and Pine Beetles
Mountain pine beetles are native to Western forests, but in recent years their numbers have skyrocketed. As they damage more trees and kill whole regions of forest, some worry that the dead forest left behind has become a tinderbox ready to burn. But do pine beetles really increase fire risk?Using Landsat satellite data, University of Wisconsin forest ecologist Phil Townsend and his team are discovering that pine beetle damage appears not to have a significant impact in the risk of large fires. In fact, it might even reduce fire risk in some instances. ||
Animations
Landsat 9 Spacecraft Animations and Stills
Go to this pageLandsat 9 is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, and will continue the Landsat program’s critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the land resources needed to sustain human life. The mission will provide moderate-resolution (15 meter to 100 meter, depending on spectral frequency) measurements of the Earth's terrestrial and polar regions in visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared wavelengths. There are two instruments on the spacecraft, the Thermal InfraRed Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) and the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2).Landsat 9 will provide continuity with the nearly 50-year long Landsat land imaging data set. In addition to widespread routine use for land use planning and monitoring on regional to local scales, support of disaster response and evaluations, and water use monitoring, Landsat measurements directly serve NASA research in the focus areas of climate, carbon cycle, ecosystems, water cycle, biogeochemistry, and Earth surface/interior.The Landsat program is the only U.S. satellite system designed and operated to repeatedly observe the global land surface at a moderate scale that shows both natural and human-induced change. ||
Landsat Lightpath Animations
Go to this pageFor nearly half a century, the Landsat mission has shaped our understanding of Earth. Since the launch of the first Landsat satellite in 1972, the mission has gathered and archived more than 8 million images of our home planet’s terrain, including crop fields and sprawling cities, forests and shrinking glaciers. These data-rich images are free and publicly available, leading to scientific discoveries and informed resource management.Landsat 9 will carry two instruments that largely replicate the instruments on Landsat 8: the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2). OLI-2 and TIRS-2 are optical sensors that detect 11 wavelengths of visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared light as it is reflected or emitted from the planet’s surface. Data from these instruments are processed and stored at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota—where decades worth of data from all of the Landsat satellites are stored and made available for free to the public.The Landsat mission, a partnership between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has provided the longest continuous record of Earth’s land surfaces from space. The consistency of Landsat’s land-cover data from sensor to sensor and year to year makes it possible to trace land-cover changes from 1972 to the present, and it will continue into the future with Landsat 9. With better technology than ever before, Landsat 9 will enhance and extend the data record to the 50-year mark and beyond. ||
Landsat 9 Atmospheric Correction
Go to this pageLandsat collects light in visible and infrared wavelengths. Sunlight reflects off Earth’s surface, and scientists identify the land cover based on which wavelengths are reflected strongly or weakly.But sunlight is also reflected by particles in the atmosphere, which distorts the data and can lead to what looks like a haze in the imagery. Using basic principles of physics, and knowing the meteorological conditions, scientists can determine the effects of the scattering and absorption as light passes through the atmosphere. This atmospheric correction is essential to determining exactly how much of each wavelength reflected of the features of the surface, and having quantifiable data.The videos below show different examples of atmospheric scattering which need to be accounted for when doing atmospheric correction of satellite data. In these cases, it is for observations over water. The resulting atmospheric corrections are part of the process for the new Landsat Aquatic Reflectance data product. Landsat’s highly calibrated data products, free to download and use, are making detailed Earth-observation data more accessible to users and bringing a greater benefit to society. ||
Evaporation and Transpiration
Go to this pageMuch of the water that soaks into the soil from irrigation or rain ultimately returns the the atmosphere as water vapor through direct evaporation from the surface or by transpiration through plant leaves as the plants use the water for growth and seed production. This loss cools the surface and plant canopy just like the evaporation of sweat cools our skin. A cool field in an arid area indicates water use by irrigation. Using the surface temperatures measured by satellites, and some additional information, water resource managers can determine the rate at which water is used in a farm field. ||
Evapotranspiration from Landsat
Go to this pageInstruments on the Landsat satellites capture images in the visible spectrum, but they also take images in wavelengths invisible to the naked eye. Landsat's thermal imager captures land surface temperature data. As farmers irrigate fields, water evaporates from the soil and transpires from plants' leaves. The combined process is called evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiring water absorbs energy, so farm fields consuming more water appear cooler in the thermal band. Landsat-based evapotranspiration measurements provide an objective way for water managers to assess on a field-by-field basis how much water agricultural growers are using. The measurements have even been used to help settle water rights conflicts in court. ||
Thermal Radiation and the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Go to this pageA short animation illustrating the relationship of temperature and wavelength. Hotter objects have a shorter wavelength and cooler objects have a longer wavelength. The animation also compares the wavelengths of visible light and thermal infrared radiation. ||
Briefing Materials: Taking Landsat to the Extreme
Go to this sectionWhat is the coldest place in the world? It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6° Fahrenheit (minus 92° Celsius) on a clear winter night – colder than the previous recorded low temperature. Narrated animation showing the process by which the coldest place on earth develops its extreme low temperatures.
Landsat 8 (aka LDCM) Spacecraft Animations and Still Images
Go to this pageLandsat 8 (formerly known as LDCM, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission), a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, will provide moderate-resolution (15 meter - 100 meter, depending on spectral frequency) measurements of the Earth's terrestrial and polar regions in the visible, near-infrared, short wave infrared, and thermal infrared. There are two instruments on the spacecraft, the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) and the Operational Land Imager (OLI). Landsat 8 continues the nearly 50-year long Landsat land imaging data set. In addition to widespread routine use for land use planning and monitoring on regional to local scales, support of disaster response and evaluations, and water use monitoring, Landsat 8 measurements directly serve NASA research in the focus areas of climate, carbon cycle, ecosystems, water cycle, biogeochemistry, and Earth surface/interior. ||
Landsat 7 Spacecraft Animations
Go to this pageThe seventh satellite in the long-running Landsat program was launched on April 15, 1999 and is the most accurately calibrated Earth-observing satellite, i.e., its measurements are extremely accurate when compared to the same measurements made on the ground. Landsat 7's sensor has been called "the most stable, best characterized Earth observation instrument ever placed in orbit." Landsat 7's rigorous calibration standards have made it the validation choice for many coarse-resolution sensors.Created for the 10th anniversary of the launch of Landsat 7. ||
Data Visualizations
- Visualization
First Global Survey of Glacial Lakes Shows 30-Years of Dramatic Growth
Data visualization featuring the glacier rich region of the Himalayas, along with many of Earth’s highest peaks. The visualization sequence starts with a wide view of the Tibetan plateau and moves along a hiking path highlighting Mt. Everest, Mt. Lhotse, Mt Nuptse, the Everest Base Camp, the Khumbhu glacier, all the way to Imja Lake. Moving to a top-down view of Imja Lake, a time series of Landsat data unveils its dramatic growth for the period 1989-2019.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || imja_final_4k.4600_print.jpg (1024x576) [114.8 KB] || imja_final_4k.4600_searchweb.png (320x180) [101.5 KB] || imja_final_4k.4600_web.png (320x180) [101.5 KB] || imja_final_4k.4600_thm.png (80x40) [7.5 KB] || imja_final_HD_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [72.9 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_60p/ (1920x1080) [512.0 KB] || imja_final_HD_1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [19.7 MB] || imja_final_4k_2160p60.mp4 (3840x2160) [215.1 MB] || imja_final_2160p60_prores.mov (3840x2160) [16.9 GB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/with_cities/ (3840x2160) [512.0 KB] || captions_silent.30013.en_US.srt [43 bytes] ||
- Visualization
Landsat with Sentinel - Global Coverage
This visualization depicts the orbits and data swaths of the Landsat 8, Landsat 9, Sentinel 2a, and Sentinel 2b satellites. The satellites appear one at a time with their respective data swaths. As time progresses throughout the visualization, the satellites ‘paint’ the globe with imagery to show how the four spacecraft work together to build a complete picture of the Earth. || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_print.jpg (1024x576) [55.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_searchweb.png (320x180) [62.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k_3240_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [29.1 MB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [8.1 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/landsat_w_sentinel_v2_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_08_60fps_4k/ (3840x2160) [512.0 KB] || landsat_w_sentinel_ls8ls9sAsB_fade_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [82.6 MB] ||
- Visualization
Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Orbits
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), also to be named Landsat 8 after its scheduled launch in February 2013, will be the eighth in the series of Landsat satellites. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have been observing and measuring Earth's continental and coastal landscapes at 15 to 30 meter resolution, where human impacts and natural changes can be monitored and characterized over time.This animation portrays how the LDCM satellite will orbit the Earth 13 times per day at an altitude of 705 km collecting landcover data. With a cross-track width of 185 km, the satellite will completely cover the globe in a 16 day period compiling a total of 233 orbits. A day number and the elapsed time are shown to clearly depict the passage of time which starts slowly in the beginning and increases to day-by-day steps at the end of the animation. The terrain is exaggerated by 6 times during the first day portrayed, but is increased to 12 times when the camera pulls out to a global view. An artificial orbit trail is shown following the spacecraft to indicate its position when the satellite itself is too small to be visible. ||
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Florida Everglades LDCM Band Remix
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is the future of Landsat satellites. LDCM launched on February 11, 2013. Landsat satellites view the Earth through a number of different bands. Each band captures imagery in different spectral wavelengths. Scientists can combine these bands a number of ways to obtain information about the satellite imagery. This visualization shows several different band combinations over the Florida Everglades. ||
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Amazon Deforestation Trends
Visualizations of deforestation in the Brazilian area of the Amazonia biome. Data provided by the MapBiomas.org initiative, primarily based on Landsat data from 1985-2018. The Amazon has undergone major transformations over the span of the Landsat program (since 1972). Working closely with their Brazilian counterparts, and in cooperation with a number of non-governmental organizations, NASA scientists have helped map the entire country of Brazil to show different kinds of land use for every year going back to 1985. Learn more about how this data is being used: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13694.
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A Quarter Century US Forest Disturbance History from Landsat – the NAFD-NEX Products
Visualization showing forest change in various locations from 1986 to 2010This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || annual_forest43.04000_print.jpg (1024x576) [253.2 KB] || annual_forest43.04000_searchweb.png (320x180) [129.5 KB] || annual_forest43.04000_thm.png (80x40) [7.7 KB] || annual_forest43_1920x1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [228.8 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_60p/ (1920x1080) [1.0 MB] || annual_forest43_1920x1080p60.webm (1920x1080) [23.2 MB] || frames/9600x3240_16x9_30p/ (9600x3240) [1.0 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/ (3840x2160) [1.0 MB] || annual_forest43_4k_2160p60.mp4 (3840x2160) [825.7 MB] || annual_forest43_4399.key [233.2 MB] || annual_forest43_4399.pptx [230.6 MB] || 4399_annual_forest43_4k_cbar_MP4.mov (3840x2160) [14.4 GB] ||
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Nebraska Water Usage
Animation begins with a wide view of the entire United States and then zooms down to an area in Nebraska where water usage studies have been done using Landsat-8 satellite data. The camera slowly pans across the area first showing true color Landsat-8 data, then transitioning to temperature data (in shades of orange and violet), then to ETRF (shades of green), ending with an extrusion of water use data (shades of blue) where the camera pulls back to show the entire area of interest. || neb_v2.2150_print.jpg (1024x576) [191.2 KB] || neb_v2.mp4 (1920x1080) [52.8 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/ (1920x1080) [128.0 KB] || neb_v2.webm (1920x1080) [8.6 MB] ||
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Landsat 8 Crosses the Arctic
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this unbroken swath of images on June 21, 2014—the summer solstice—when the Sun stays above the horizon of the Arctic for at least 24 hours. While much of the region is still frozen in June, the ice is in various stages of melting.For complete transcript, click here.Watch this video on the NASA Earth Observatory YouTube channel.Music: Thin Ice Mining by Chris Constantinou [PRS], Paul Frazer [PRS] Melting Glacier by Chris Constantinou [PRS], Paul Frazer [PRS] Undiscovered Oceans by Aaron Yeddidia [BMI], Chris Lang [BMI], Eric Cunningham [BMI] Another Sleep by Chris Constantinou [PRS], Paul Frazer [PRS] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_youtube_hq_print.jpg (1024x576) [110.7 KB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_youtube_hq_searchweb.png (320x180) [71.0 KB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_youtube_hq_web.png (320x180) [71.0 KB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_youtube_hq_thm.png (80x40) [6.1 KB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [411.2 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_appletv.m4v (960x540) [122.8 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [144.3 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [4.2 GB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_appletv.webm (960x540) [33.2 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (960x540) [122.7 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [49.2 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_nasaportal.mov (640x360) [121.2 MB] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath-caption.en_US.srt [145 bytes] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath-caption.en_US.vtt [158 bytes] || G2015-015_Arctic_Swath_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [26.7 MB] ||
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Landsat-8 Long Arctic Swath
Landsat 8 observed this arctic swath of data on June 21, 2014. This section captures Victoria Island, the boundary between the Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada, and the Amundsen Gulf. The Prince Albert Sound and the Dolphin and Union Strait are still ice covered. || longer_Landsat8swathJune212014.3050_print.jpg (1024x576) [90.0 KB] || longer_Landsat8swathJune212014.3050_searchweb.png (320x180) [67.1 KB] || longer_Landsat8swathJune212014.3050_thm.png (80x40) [6.3 KB] || longer_Landsat8swathJune212014_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [31.3 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/reveal/ (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || longer_Landsat8swathJune212014_1080.webm (1920x1080) [12.7 MB] ||
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Landsat 8 Long Swath
After two months of on-orbit testing and calibration, Landsat 8 (previously called LDCM) fired its propulsion system on April 12, 2013, and ascended to its final orbit 438 miles (705 km) above Earth. The animation, made from scenes taken a week later on April 19, allows viewers to fly with the satellite from its final operating orbit. 56 continuous Landsat scenes from that orbit have been stitched together into a seamless view from Russia to South Africa. Orbiting at 16,800 mph (27,000 kph), Landsat 8 made this flight in just more than 20 minutes. The animation moves faster, covering 5,665 miles (9,117 kilometers) in nearly 16 minutes. You would have to be moving about 21,930 mph (35,290 kph) to get a similar view — only slightly slower than the Apollo astronauts who entered Earth's orbit from the moon at 25,000 mph (40,200 kph). We pan down the long swath of data from Landsat 8, starting in northern Russia, passing over the Caucasus Mountains, the Republic of Georgia, Armenia, Turkey (passing Lake Van), Iraq, and Saudi Arabia (the cities of Medina and Jeddah), crossing the Red Sea into Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Kenya-Uganda border and catching the eastern edge of Lake Victoria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, a little bit of Mozambique, and ending in northern South Africa. ||
- Visualization
Landsat-8 Long Swath
Landsat-8 launched February 11th, 2013. This visualization shows one of the first full swaths of data taken on April 19th, 2013, only one week after Landsat-8 ascended to its final altitude of 438 miles (705 km). ||
- Visualization
Life Histories from Landsat: 25 Years in the Pacific Northwest Forest
This visualization shows a sequence of Landsat-based data in the Pacific Northwest. There is one data set for each year representing an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr. LandTrendr analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. The algorithm evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.In these false color images, the colors represent types of land; for example, blue areas are forests; orange/yellow areas are agriculture; and, purple areas are urban. Each 'stack' is representative of a Landsat scene. There are 22 stacks stitched together to cover most of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This processed data is used for science, natural resource management, and education.The visualization zooms into the Portland area showing different types of land such as agricultural, urban, and forests. We move south to a region that was evergreen forest for a number of years (blue), then was clear cut in 1999 (orange), then began to regrow (yellow). A graph shows the trajectories for a particular location in the clearcut as the years repeat. The dots represent the original data from Landsat; and, the line represents LandTrendr analysis. We move over to the Three Sisters region to show an area of pine forest that becomes infested with bark beetles in 2004. Next, we move to the southern foothills of Mount Hood where a budworm infestation is in progress; around 1991, the worms move on to another area and shrubs start to regrow. Next wemove to the east side of Mount Rainier National Park to see another budworm outbreak followed by shrub regrowth. Finally, we move to the west of Mount Rainier where we can see widespread clear cutting outside of the park, but no clear cutting inside the protected park land.Don't miss this related tour of the region. ||
- Visualization
Life Histories from Landsat: 25 Years in the Pacific Northwest Forest — North/South Tour
This visualization shows a sequence of Landsat-based data in the Pacific Northwest. There is one data set for each year representing an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr. LandTrendr analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. The algorithm evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.In these false color images, the colors represent types of land; for example, blue areas are forests; orange/yellow areas are agriculture; and, purple areas are urban. Each 'stack' is representative of a Landsat scene. There are 22 stacks stitched together to cover most of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This processed data is used for science, natural resource management, and education.We move in to the southwest corner of the data set near Redwood National Park and proceed on a slow tour through a portion of the data set. Time loops from 1984 through 2011 as we move. We move over to Mount Shasta, then up the Cascade Range, passing Crater Lake National Park, the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood, Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, and the North Cascades National Park. Next we move west over Seattle and pass over Olympic National Park, then we head back south down the Willamette Valley back to Redwood National Park.Don't miss this related narrated visualization ||
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Forest Cover Loss 2000-2012 in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Saskatechewan
Twelve years of global deforestation, wildfires, windstorms, insect infestations, and more are captured in a new set of forest disturbance maps created from billions of pixels acquired by the imager on the NASA-USGS Landsat 7 satellite. The maps are the first to measure forest loss and gain using a consistent method around the globe at high spatial resolution, allowing scientists to compare forest changes in different countries and to monitor annual deforestation. Since each pixel in a Landsat image represents a piece of land about the size of a baseball diamond, researchers can see enough detail to tell local, regional and global stories. Hansen and colleagues analyzed 143 billion pixels in 654,000 Landsat images to compile maps of forest loss and gain between 2000 and 2012. During that period, 888,000 square miles (2.3 million square kilometers) of forest was lost, and 308,900 square miles (0.8 million square kilometers) regrew. The researchers, including scientists from the University of Maryland, Google, the State University of New York, Woods Hole Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey and South Dakota State University, published their work in the Nov. 15, 2013, issue of the journal Science.Key to the project was collaboration with team members from Google Earth Engine, who reproduced in the Google Cloud the models developed at the University of Maryland for processing and characterizing the Landsat data; Google Earth Engine contains a complete copy of the Landsat record. The computing required to generate these maps would have taken 15 years on a single desktop computer, but with cloud computing was performed in a few days. Since 1972, the Landsat program has played a critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the resources needed to sustain human life such as food, water and forests. Landsat 8 launched Feb. 11, 2013, and is jointly managed by NASA and USGS to continue the 40-plus years of Earth observations. To view the forest cover maps in Google Earth Engine, visit: http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/google.com/science-2013-global-forest ||
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Vegetation Greening Trend in Canada and Alaska: 1984-2012
This animation examines the change in the vegetation trend over Canada and Alaska between 1984 and 2012. || AG_v0020_Final.3975_print.jpg (1024x576) [213.8 KB] || AG_v0020_Final.3975_searchweb.png (320x180) [103.3 KB] || AG_v0020_Final.3975_thm.png (80x40) [6.9 KB] || AG_Final_mb150_slow_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [38.0 MB] || AG_Final_mb150_slow_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [38.0 MB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_60p/ (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/ (1920x1080) [128.0 KB] || AG_Final_mb150_slow_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [5.7 MB] ||
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Seasonal Speed Variation on Heimdal Glacier
The NASA/USGS Landsat 8 mission has allowed new views of the Earth’s glaciers. By tracking displacement of local surface features through the seasons on outlet glaciers from the large ice sheets, researchers from the University of Alaska, the University of Bristol, and the University of Colorado have been able to show that each glacier around Greenland has a unique pattern of flow variation through the seasons. Seasonal variations, seen in this animation on the lower 25 kilometers of Heimdal Glacier in southeast Greenland, are caused by a combination of processes. For Heimdal, the largest forcing for flow variation is likely the input of increasing amounts of surface melt water through the Spring and Summer, but there is also an interplay between calving of ice from the end of the glacier, flow acceleration as shown in the animation, and thinning of the ice due to the extra stretching from the faster flow. By measuring these changes in flow on seasonal timescales, scientists can develop a better understanding of what controls the flow of these glaciers where they meet the ocean. This understanding will improve our ability to anticipate flow responses of these systems in a warming climate. ||
- Visualization
Coldest Place on Earth
What is the coldest place in the world? It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6° Fahrenheit (minus 92° Celsius) on a clear winter night - colder than the previous recorded low temperature.Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center made the discovery while analyzing the most detailed global surface temperature maps to date, developed with data from remote sensing satellites including the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite, and the TIRS sensor on Landsat 8, a joint project of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The researchers analyzed 32 years of data from several satellite instruments that have mapped Antarctica's surface temperature. Near a high ridge that runs from Dome Arugs to Dome Fuji, the scientists found clusters of pockets that have plummeted to record low temperatures dozens of times. The lowest temperature the satellites detected - minus 136° F (minus 93.2° C), on Aug. 10, 2010.The new record is several degrees colder than the previous low of minus 128.6° F (minus 89.2° C), set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica. The coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth is northeastern Siberia, where temperatures dropped to a bone-chilling 90 degrees below zero F (minus 67.8° C) in the towns of Verkhoyansk (in 1892) and Oimekon (in 1933).Related feature story: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-usgs-landsat-8-satellite-pinpoints-coldest-spots-on-earth ||
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Drought 2010-2012
The Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) provides objective, high-resolution information about the evaporation of water from land surface. The ESI model combines satellite data with other meteorological factors to determine how much water is used by crops and vegetation. The resulting data helps to detect drought.This visualization shows ESI data for 2010, 2011, and 2012. 2010 was a relatively wet year despite occasional drought. In 2011, the ESI shows extremely dry conditions across all of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, tracking one of the country's most devastating droughts. In 2012, the ESI shows plant stress in the Corn Belt region as early as May. These warning signs later developed into a full drought that impacted the world's corn and soy been supply.The kind of early-warning detection system ESI provides will enhance the US arsenal of drought monitoring tools and help farmers adapt to drought before it evolves. ||
- Visualization
Urban Sprawl in Beijing, China (Hyperwall version)
Beijing is one of the oldest, and now, one of the most crowded cities in the world. Established as a city in 1045 BC, King Wu was the first to declare it as a capital in 1057 BC. Having served as the capital of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing is now the capital of the People's Republic of China. In these Landsat images, the explosive growth of this ancient city is clearly visible. In 1972, only about 7.89 million people lived there — but by 2010 the population swelled to more than 12 million. This increase in the city's size corresponds to the opening of China to the Western world in the 1970s. Up until 1979, the government restricted housing in the city, limiting it to the confines of the "Outer City." Previously a walled fortress, its outline is still visible today due to the build up of canals and roads along the path of the original wall. Inside this rectangular boundary is the ancient heart of the capital, the moat-lined Forbidden City. Called forbidden because anyone entering needed royal permission, this is where the Imperial Palace still stands, once home to 500 years of Chinese emperors. It was Kublai Khan who established the Forbidden City in 1260 A.D. He called it Khanbaliq but Italian explorer Marco Polo called it Cambuluc. It still stands as Beijing's city center. In 1421 the Chinese took the city back and gave it its current name of Beijing. Today, Beijing is only limited by the rugged Taihang Mountains that run to the west and northwest of the city, pushing the population to spread to the south and east across the relatively flat coastal plain. ||
- Visualization
Urban Sprawl in Beijing, China
Beijing is one of the oldest, and now, one of the most crowded cities in the world. Established as a city in 1045 BC, King Wu was the first to declare it as a capital in 1057 BC. Having served as the capital of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing is now the capital of the People's Republic of China. In these Landsat images, the explosive growth of this ancient city is clearly visible. In 1972, only about 7.89 million people lived there — but by 2010 the population swelled to more than 12 million. This increase in the city's size corresponds to the opening of China to the Western world in the 1970s. Up until 1979, the government restricted housing in the city, limiting it to the confines of the "Outer City." Previously a walled fortress, its outline is still visible today due to the build up of canals and roads along the path of the original wall. Inside this rectangular boundary is the ancient heart of the capital, the moat-lined Forbidden City. Called forbidden because anyone entering needed royal permission, this is where the Imperial Palace still stands, once home to 500 years of Chinese emperors. It was Kublai Khan who established the Forbidden City in 1260 A.D. He called it Khanbaliq but Italian explorer Marco Polo called it Cambuluc. It still stands as Beijing's city center. In 1421 the Chinese took the city back and gave it its current name of Beijing. Today, Beijing is only limited by the rugged Taihang Mountains that run to the west and northwest of the city, pushing the population to spread to the south and east across the relatively flat coastal plain. ||
- Visualization
Mountain Top Removal and Deforestation Throughout the Eastern Seaboard from 2006-2010
Humans actively change the Earth's landscape. Some of these changes can be seen from space through careful analysis of satellite data. In this visualization, we fly over the United States eastern seaboard highlighting large areas of deforestation and mountain top removal (in shades of orange and red) throughout the region. NASA scientists have worked on complex algorithms that allow us to see these changes through time more easily. The data depicted here covers the years 2006-2010. Areas in orange and red are the regions have have sustained the greatest change in this 4 year period. Oranges areas represent older change (closer to 2006) and darker reds are more current (2010). Only areas with greater than 25% tree cover are shown in shades of green. A muted gray-brown color is used for areas with less than 25% tree cover. ||
- Visualization
Mountain Top Removal and Vegetation change over the Ouachita Mountains from 2006-2010
Humans actively change the Earth's landscape. Some of these changes can be seen from space through careful analysis of satellite data. In this visualization, we fly over the Ouachita Mountains highlighting (in shades of orange and red) large areas of vegetation change and mountain top removal throughout the region. NASA scientists have worked on complex algorithms that allow us to see these changes through time more easily. The data depicted here covers the years 2006-2010. Areas in orange and red are the regions have have sustained the greatest change in this 4 year period. Oranges areas represent older change (closer to 2006) and darker reds are more current (2010). Only areas with greater than 25% tree cover are shown in shades of green. A muted gray-brown color is used for areas with less than 25% tree cover. ||
- Visualization
Deforestation in Rondonia, Brazil
In this animation of images from 1975 until 2012, acquired by the Landsat 5 and 7 satellites, enormous tracts of Amazonian forest disappear in Rondonia, a state in Western Brazil.Deforestation in Rondonia in the 1970s until the 1990s had a distinctive "fishbone" pattern. Access to this remote region began with a major road cutting through the dense tropical forest, opening up new territory for small farms and ranches. Then, other roads developed at right angles to the initial road. In this visualization, these roads shoot off a stretch of the main "backbone" road for about 31 miles (~50 kilometers) long, each secondary road branching off about every 2.5 (~4 kilometers). This creates the "fishbone" pattern. Even with the deforestation, Brazil is still home to more than a quarter of Earth's tropical forests. In addition to their astounding biodiversity, these forests act as a major carbon "sink." These are places where carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by living things, like trees and plants, and thus the carbon is said to be trapped or sequestered. With increasing carbon dioxide levels around the world, the ability of these forests to hold onto carbon has beneficial implications for stabilizing the world's climate.NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available over the Internet. The next Landsat satellite, now known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and later to be called Landsat 8, is scheduled for launch in 2013. ||
- Visualization
Rise of the Three Gorges Dam
Some call it the eighth wonder of world; others say it's the next Great Wall of China. Upon completion in 2009, the Three Gorges Dam will be the world's largest hydroelectric power generator. One of the few man-made structures so enormous that it's actually visible to the naked eye from space, NASA's Landsat satellite has had a closer look, providing detailed, vivid views of the dam since its inception in 1994. The dam is built along the Yangtze River, the third largest in the world, stretching more than 3,900 miles across China before reaching its mouth near Shanghai. Historically, the river has been prone to massive flooding, overflowing its banks about once every ten years. During the 20th century alone, Chinese authorities estimate that some 300,000 people were killed from Yangtze River floods. The dam is designed to greatly improve flood control on the river and protect the 15 million people and 3.7 million acres of farmland in the lower Yangtze flood plains. Observations from the NASA-built Landsat satellites provide an overview of the dam's construction. The earliest data set, from 1987, shows the region prior to start of construction. By 2000, construction along each riverbank was underway, but sediment-filled water still flowed through a narrow channel near the river's south bank. The 2004 data shows development of the main wall and the partial filling of the reservoir, including numerous side canyons. By mid-2006, construction of the main wall was completed and a reservoir more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) across had filled just upstream of the dam. To read more about the Three Gorges Dam, please click here. This animation was designed in three parts: Part 1: The first part of this animation zooms in to the Three Gorges Dam and travels backward and forward through time emphasizing the dam construction and filling of the reservoir. This animation then continues seemlessly into Part 2. Part 2: Starting where Part 1 leaves off, the camera flies up the 2006 data showing the high water levels that have already filled the multiple gorges upstream. Part 3: Identical to Part 2, except showing the 1987 data prior to the dam construction. ||
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Orthographic View of Jakobshavn Calving Front: 1851 to 2010
The Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, also known as Sermeq Kujalleq, is located on the west coast of Greenland at Latitude 69 degrees N. The ice front, where the glacier calves into the sea, receded more than 40 km between 1850 and 2010. Between 1850 and 1964 the ice front retreated at a steady rate of about 0.3 km/yr, after which it occupied approximately the same location until 2001, receding 10km in three years. After 2005 the single icefront had retreated enough to split into distinct fronts for the smaller, northern tributary and the main southern trunk. The icestream flows in a deep trough which ends near the current glacier terminus. The bedrock topography is expected to stabilize the location of the icefront for the near future as the glacier continues to drawn ice from Greenland's interior. The movement of ice from glaciers on land into the ocean contributes to a rise in sea level. Jakobshavn Isbrae is Greenland's largest outlet glacier, draining 6.5 percent of Greenland's ice sheet area. This image is generated with an orthographic camera set to view the range from 51.372 W longitude to 49.212 W and from 68.94 N latitude to 69.39 N. The Landsat image shown in the background is a false color image of data collected on July 29, 2009. ||
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Guided Tour of LIMA Flyover
In 2007, more than 1,100 Landsat 7 images were used to create the first ever, high-resolution, true color map of Antarctica. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is a virtually cloud-free, 3-D view of Antarctica's frozen landscape produced by NASA, working with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey.Visualizers stitched together Landsat 7 satellite imagery acquired in 1999 and 2001 with a digital elevation model and field data measurements. ||
Still Graphics
Landsat Program Timeline
Go to this pageThe Landsat program offers the longest continuous global record of the Earth’s surface; it continues to deliver visually stunning and scientifically valuable images of our planet. This short video highlights Landsat’s many benefits to society.In 1975, NASA Administrator Dr. James Fletcher predicted that if one space age development would save the world, it would be Landsat and its successor satellites. Since the early 1970s, Landsat has continuously and consistently archived images of Earth; this unparalleled data archive gives scientist the ability to assess changes in Earth’s landscape.For over 40 years, the Landsat program has collected spectral information from Earth’s surface, creating a historical archive unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and length.“It was the granddaddy of them all, as far as starting the trend of repetitive, calibrated observations of the Earth at a spatial resolution where one can detect man’s interaction with the environment,” Dr. Darrel Williams, the Landsat 7 Project Scientist, states about Landsat.Landsat sensors have a moderate spatial-resolution. You cannot see individual houses on a Landsat image, but you can see large man-made objects such as highways. This is an important spatial resolution because it is coarse enough for global coverage, yet detailed enough to characterize human-scale processes such as urban growth, deforestation, agriculture water use, and more. ||
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Visible Earth
Find all Landsat images published by the award-winning NASA Earth Observatory here. Beautifully annotated (and unannotated) images collected throughout Landsat’s long history are featured along with detailed descriptions and scientific explanations. All of the images are in the public domain and may be used with attribution.
Go to this link - Link
NASA Image & Video Library
All content tagged for Landsat 9 in the NASA Image and Video Library, which allows users to search, discover and download a treasure trove of more than 140,000 NASA images, videos and audio files from across the agency’s many missions in aeronautics, astrophysics, Earth science, human spaceflight, and more.
Go to this link - Link
Earth As Art
Satellites capture an incredible variety of views of Earth. In addition to their scientific value, many satellite images are simply lovely to look at. In these collections from the U.S. Geological Survey, see the mesmerizing beauty of river deltas, mountains, and other sandy, salty, and icy landscapes. Some might even remind you of actual famous works of art!
Go to this link - Link
World of Change
See for yourself how our planet is changing at the World of Change gallery featured on NASA’s Earth Observatory. Via time series satellite images, you can witness the unfolding transformation of Earth’s surface. Many different satellite data sets are featured on this site. As you’ve probably guessed, you can find Landsat—with its nearly five-decade archive—in heavy rotation here.
Go to this link Landsat Downloads and Use Data
Go to this pageGraph showing the total number of Landsat scenes downloaded since October 1, 2008, when the USGS instituted their policy to distribute Landsat data for free. In the five years since, over 11 million scenes have been downloaded from the Landsat archive. ||
Landsat and Agriculture
Go to this pageThe Landsat program has been running since 1972, having successfully launched 7 satellites into orbit. (Landsat 6, owned by a private company, failed at launch and never reached orbit.) Since 1972, Landsat satellites have been regularly collecting data about the Earth's land surface to help monitor our natural resources and study how land cover and land use are changing. || Landsat_timeline_5x3wall.png (6830x2304) [1.2 MB] || Landsat_timeline_5x3wall_web.jpg (317x107) [9.1 KB] ||
Global Rate of Deforestation 2011
Go to this pageEarth's forests are of incalculable value; they are a vital component of the climate system - controlling gas, energy and water exchange between the surface and atmosphere; the tropical forests alone contain half of all biological species - diversity that underpins human and environmental wellbeing; they are a major source of revenue - timber, non-timber forest products and mineral reserves and they are the primary source of energy for over 2 billion people. Forests have never been under more pressure. Demand for their natural wealth and a hunger for land causes forest clearance at alarming rates. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the Earth loses an area about the size of a football field every 3 seconds - in the time it takes to make a sandwich an area equivalent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is cleared... somewhere on Earth trees are falling every second of every day. Based on a systematic sample of Landsat imagery at 4,016 locations around the tropical belt the European Commission's TREES 3 project is making estimates of forest cover change for the years 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010 with new levels of precision. Preliminary results emphasize just how relentless the pressure on our planet is. Using archived and recent Landsat imagery we have measured dramatic changes to the African Continent for example. Since the 1970s natural vegetation (forests and savannas) have been converted to agricultural land at a tremendous pace. Around 50,000 sq. km per year are cleared - an area twice the size of Vermont. With the fastest growing population in the world such land cover conversions are unlikely to slow down any time soon, nor should the measuring programs. Landsat 8 and its European counterpart, Sentinel 2, are not being launched any sooner than they are needed. ||
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NASA Sees New Salt in an Ancient Sea
The expansion of massive salt evaporation projects on the Dead Sea are clearly visible in this time series of images taken by Landsat satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. This false-color image was captured by the Landsat 1, 4 & 7 satellites.
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Change Over Time
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Tracking Amazon Deforestation
The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, nearly as big as the continental United States. But every year, less of that forest is still standing. Today's deforestation across the Amazon frontier is tractors and bulldozers clearing large swaths to make room for industrial-scale cattle ranching and crops. Landsat satellite data is used to map land cover in Brazil with a historical perspective, going back to 1984.Music: Organic Circuit by Richard Birkin [PRS]; Into the Atmosphere by Sam Joseph Delves [PRS]; Ethereal Journey by Noé Bailleux [SACEM]; Wildfires by Magnum Opus [ASCAP]; Letter For Tomorrow by Anthony d’Amario [SACEM].Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || Amazon_clearing_poster.jpg (3840x2160) [2.4 MB] || Amazon_clearing_DSC_1491.jpg (6000x4000) [5.3 MB] || Amazon_clearing_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [88.6 KB] || Amazon_clearing_poster_thm.png (80x40) [5.8 KB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [417.9 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_tw.mp4 (1280x720) [89.4 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_yt.webm (1920x1080) [45.5 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation-captions.en_US.srt [7.1 KB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation-captions.en_US.vtt [6.9 KB] ||
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40 Years of Forest Recovery
The long record of Landsat data (since 1972) is helping scientists Sean Healey and Zhiqiang Yang of the Rocky Mountain Research Station (U.S. Forest Service) study the long-term impact of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens. With Landsat data for 8 years before the eruption, and 40 years since, they have calculated the percent tree cover for each year, watching as vegetation grows back.Music: The Waiting Room by Sam Dodson [PRS], published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]; Inner Strength by Brava [SGAE], Dsilence [SGAE], Input [SGAE] , Output [SGAE], published by El Murmullo Sarao [SGAE], Universal Sarao [SGAE], Some Assembly by Kyle Fredrickson [ASCAP] and Taylor Alexander Locke [BMI], published by Killer Tracks [BMI], Soundcast Music [SESAC], and Light From Dark by Adam Salkeld [PRS] and Neil Pollard [PRS], published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS], all available from Universal Production Music.Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_Landsat.png (1920x1080) [4.0 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_print.png (1920x1080) [3.5 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_print_print.jpg (1024x576) [287.9 KB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_print_searchweb.png (320x180) [106.3 KB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_print_thm.png (80x40) [7.4 KB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_prores.mov (1920x1080) [11.9 GB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_youtube.mp4 (1920x1080) [411.3 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_facebook.mp4 (1920x1080) [354.9 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_twitter.mp4 (1504x846) [139.3 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens_youtube.webm (1920x1080) [47.9 MB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens-captions.en_US.srt [8.6 KB] || 13614_Mt_St_Helens-captions.en_US.vtt [8.6 KB] ||
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48 Years of Alaska Glaciers
Mark Fahnestock, a scientist with the Geological Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has assembled annual mosaics of all the glaciers in Alaska and the Yukon using Landsat images going back to 1972. Using these mosaics, Mark is able to study glacier motion and speed.All music published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]: Inducing Waves, composer Ben Niblett [PRS] Jon Cotton [PRS]; Critical Pathway, composer Rik Carter [PRS]; Emerging Discovery, composer Rik Carter [PRS]Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print.jpg (1920x1080) [1.0 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print_searchweb.png (320x180) [135.5 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print_thm.png (80x40) [9.0 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.mov (1920x1080) [4.3 GB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.mp4 (1920x1080) [516.6 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.webm (1920x1080) [38.7 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers-captions.en_US.srt [5.9 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers-captions.en_US.vtt [5.9 KB] ||
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Landsat Croplands Data Overview
The U.S. Department of Agriculture tracks how many acres and the annual yield for every crop produced. One method used to estimate crop acreage and yield is remote-sensing data from the NASA-USGS Landsat satellite program. The program started in 1997,with North Dakota, and by 2008 covered the entire lower 48 states and the District of Columbia. Music: "Downloading Landscapes" by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS] and David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS]. Published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS].Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13417_Landsat_Croplands_print.jpg (1920x1080) [940.0 KB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands_print_searchweb.png (320x180) [52.1 KB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands_print_thm.png (80x40) [4.6 KB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands.mp4 (1920x1080) [292.2 MB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands.webm (1920x1080) [19.7 MB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands.mov (1920x1080) [4.8 GB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands-captions.en_US.srt [3.0 KB] || 13417_Landsat_Croplands-captions.en_US.vtt [3.0 KB] ||
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25 Years of Forest Dynamics
Annual maps of the lower-48 United States produced from Landsat data illustrate how forests changed from 1986-2010. Logging and hurricanes play a significant role in the Southeast, and fires and insect invasion damage forest canopy in the West.Complete transcript available.Music credit: Dusk On The Plains by B. BostonWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1280_print.jpg (1024x576) [102.9 KB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1280_searchweb.png (320x180) [68.6 KB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1280_thm.png (80x40) [5.2 KB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_prores.mov (1280x720) [4.2 GB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [292.3 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [3.6 GB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [135.8 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [135.9 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1280.mp4 (1280x720) [291.8 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049.mpeg (1280x720) [974.1 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049.webm (960x540) [116.6 MB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_UHD.mov (3840x2160) [30.7 GB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics-youtube4K.mp4 (3840x2160) [1.1 GB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics-captions.en_US.vtt [6.7 KB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics-captions.en_US.srt [6.6 KB] || 12051_Forest_Dynamics_1920_VX-280049_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [47.4 MB] ||
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Harmonized Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 Data
Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellites have spectral and spatial similarities that make using their data together possible. When the data are used together observations can be more timely and accurate. The HLS project is an effort to "harmonize" the data of the two satellite programs so that they can be more easily used in unison. The ultimate goal is to obtain seamless 2-3 day global surface reflectance coverage at 30 meters that removes residual differences between the sensors due to spectral bandpass and view geometry. Currently the v1.3 HLS data set encompasses 82 global test sites that cover about 7% of the global land area.Using the processing power of the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) computer cluster at NASA Ames, the HLS workflow atmospherically corrects data from the satellites, geographically tiles the Landsat data in a manor matching the Sentinel-2 tiling, and then corrects for different sensor view angles (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function, or BRDF) and does a slight band pass adjustment for the Sentinel-2 data to create the harmonized 30-meter product.The HLS team includes researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Maryland, and NASA Ames Research Center. ||
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Land Changes in Atchafalaya Bay
Since 1972, Landsat satellites have orbited our home planet, collecting data about the land surface we rely on. This video shows footage of the launch of the first Landsat satellite, on July 23, 1972, and a timelapse of the changing coastal wetlands in Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana.Music credit: Step By Step, by Gresby Race Nash [PRS] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_large.00385_print.jpg (1024x576) [74.5 KB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_large.00385_searchweb.png (320x180) [63.5 KB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_large.00385_thm.png (80x40) [5.0 KB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_prores.mov (1280x720) [1.5 GB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [111.8 MB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_youtube_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [162.4 MB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th_facebook_720.mp4 (1280x720) [118.5 MB] || 11761_Atchafalaya_Delta_Landsat45th.webm (960x540) [45.1 MB] || GSFC_20170721_Landsat_m11761_Atchafalaya.en_US.vtt [42 bytes] ||
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Landsat Tracks Mount St. Helens Recovery
In 1980, Mount St. Helens roared back into major activity with a massive eruption that leveled surrounding forest, blasted away over a thousand feet of the mountain's summit, and claimed 57 human lives.This short video shows the catastrophic eruption - and the amazing recovery of the surrounding ecosystem - through the eyes of the Landsat satellites, which have been imaging our planet for almost forty years. By observing red, near-infrared, and green wavelengths of light reflected off the surface, it is possible to distinguish healthy vegetation (in green) from bare ground (in magenta).Music: Running by Dirk Ehlert [BMI], Guillermo De La Barreda [BMI]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse-print.jpg (1920x1080) [2.3 MB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse-print_searchweb.png (320x180) [129.3 KB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse-print_thm.png (80x40) [7.7 KB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_prores.mov (1280x720) [1.3 GB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [95.7 MB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [407.5 MB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [44.8 MB] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_.webm (960x540) [38.8 MB] || GSFC_20170518_MtStHelens_m12612_Timelapse.en_US.vtt [42 bytes] || 12612-Mt-St-Helens-timelapse_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [15.5 MB] ||
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Devastation and Recovery of Mt. St. Helens
In the nearly four decades since the eruption (1980), Mt. St. Helens has given scientists an unprecedented opportunity to witness the steps through which life reclaims a devastated landscape. The scale of the eruption and the beginning of reclamation in the Mt. St. Helens blast zone are documented in this series of images between 1979 and 2017. The older images are false-color (vegetation is red). Not surprisingly, the first noticeable recovery (late 1980s) takes place in the northwestern quadrant of the blast zone, farthest from the volcano. It is another decade (late 1990s) before the terrain east of Spirit Lake is considerably greener. By the end of the series, the only area (beyond the slopes of the mountain itself) that remains conspicuously bare at the scale of these images is the Pumice Plain. ||
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Landsat's Global View of Ice Velocity
Ice from glaciers constantly flows into the ocean, but the speed the ice moves at changes. Landsat 8 provides near-real-time mapping of ice speed in nearly all the world’s frozen regions. Information like ice speed helps scientists study our home planet and its vulnerability to rising seas. ||
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Crack in Larsen C Ice Shelf
Thermal wavelength image of a large iceberg, which has calved off the Larsen C ice shelf. Darker colors are colder, and brighter colors are warmer, so the rift between the iceberg and the ice shelf appears as a thin line of slightly warmer area. Image from July 12, 2017, from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite.Credit: NASA Worldview || nasa-worldview-2017-07-12-thermal-detail-label.jpg (1280x800) [109.6 KB] || nasa-worldview-2017-07-12-thermal-detail.jpg (1280x800) [76.5 KB] ||
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Details of Arctic Greening in North America
NASA scientists used almost 30 years of data from the NASA/USGS Landsat satellites to track changes in vegetation in Alaska and Canada. Of the more than 4 million square miles, 30% had increases in vegetation (greening) while only 3% had decreases (browning). This is the first study to produce a continent-scale map while still providing detailed information at the human scale.Music: "Alaska," by Janik Riegert [GEMA], Josh Tapen [GEMA]Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_large.00140_print.jpg (1024x576) [212.8 KB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_large.00140_searchweb.png (320x180) [111.9 KB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_large.00140_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [781.8 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [109.6 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [53.8 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER.mpeg (1280x720) [368.4 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_prores.mov (1280x720) [1.5 GB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER.webm (960x540) [43.9 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [53.8 MB] || 12225_Arctic_greening-captions.en_US.srt [105 bytes] || 12225_Arctic_greening-captions.en_US.vtt [118 bytes] || 12225_Arctic_greening_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [19.2 MB] ||
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Mining for Water in Kansas
This image from 2015, and the accompanying images from 1972, 1988, and 2011 show the transformation of Kansas farmland from dryland, rectangular fields to circular irrigated fields from center-pivot irrigation systems. The mining of ground water for agriculture has been a significant trend globally over the last half-century, and these images of a region in Kansas highlight the trend within the United States. || Garden_city_KS-2015_print.jpg (1024x975) [580.9 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015_searchweb.png (320x180) [147.7 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015_thm.png (80x40) [9.3 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015.tif (3920x3736) [41.9 MB] ||
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Global Forest Cover, Loss, and Gain 2000-2012
Twelve years of global deforestation, wildfires, windstorms, insect infestations, and more are captured in a new set of forest disturbance maps created from billions of pixels acquired by the imager on the NASA-USGS Landsat 7 satellite. The maps are the first to measure forest loss and gain using a consistent method around the globe at high spatial resolution, allowing scientists to compare forest changes in different countries and to monitor annual deforestation. Since each pixel in a Landsat image represents a piece of land about the size of a baseball diamond, researchers can see enough detail to tell local, regional and global stories. Hansen and colleagues analyzed 143 billion pixels in 654,000 Landsat images to compile maps of forest loss and gain between 2000 and 2012. During that period, 888,000 square miles (2.3 million square kilometers) of forest was lost, and 308,900 square miles (0.8 million square kilometers) regrew. The researchers, including scientists from the University of Maryland, Google, the State University of New York, Woods Hole Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey and South Dakota State University, published their work in the Nov. 15, 2013, issue of the journal Science.Key to the project was collaboration with team members from Google Earth Engine, who reproduced in the Google Cloud the models developed at the University of Maryland for processing and characterizing the Landsat data; Google Earth Engine contains a complete copy of the Landsat record. The computing required to generate these maps would have taken 15 years on a single desktop computer, but with cloud computing was performed in a few days. Since 1972, the Landsat program has played a critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing the resources needed to sustain human life such as food, water and forests. Landsat 8 launched Feb. 11, 2013, and is jointly managed by NASA and USGS to continue the 40-plus years of Earth observations. To view the forest cover maps in Google Earth Engine, visit: http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/google.com/science-2013-global-forest ||
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Pivot Irrigation in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is drilling for a resource possibly more precious than oil.Over the last 24 years, it has tapped hidden reserves of water to grow wheat and other crops in the Syrian Desert. This time series of data shows images acquired by three different Landsat satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.The green fields that dot the desert draw on water that in part was trapped during the last Ice Age. In addition to rainwater that fell over several hundred thousand years, this fossil water filled aquifers that are now buried deep under the desert's shifting sands.Saudi Arabia reaches these underground rivers and lakes by drilling through the desert floor, directly irrigating the fields with a circular sprinkler system. This technique is called center-pivot irrigation.Because rainfall in this area is now only a few centimeters (about one inch) each year, water here is a non-renewable resource. Although no one knows how much water is beneath the desert, hydrologists estimate it will only be economical to pump water for about 50 years.In this series of four Landsat images, the agricultural fields are about one kilometer (.62 miles) across. The images were created using reflected light from the short wave-infrared, near-infrared, and green portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (bands 7, 4, and 2 from Landsat 4 and 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ sensors). Using this combination of wavelengths, healthy vegetation appears bright green while dry vegetation appears orange. Barren soil is a dark pink, and urban areas, like the town of Tubarjal at the top of each image, have a purple hue.Landsat 4 launched in 1982 and provided scientific data for 11 years until 1993. NASA launched Landsat 5 in 1984 and it ran a record-breaking 28 years, sending back what was likely its last data in 2011. Landsat 7 is still up and running; it was launched in 1999. The data from these and other Landsat satellites has been instrumental in increasing our understanding of forest health, storm damage, agricultural trends, urban growth, and many other ongoing changes to our land.NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available data over the Internet. Download a still image showing four of the years: 1987, 1991, 2000, and 2012. ||
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Life Histories from Landsat: 25 Years in the Pacific Northwest Forest
This visualization shows a sequence of Landsat-based data in the Pacific Northwest. There is one data set for each year representing an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr. LandTrendr analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. The algorithm evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.In these false color images, the colors represent types of land; for example, blue areas are forests; orange/yellow areas are agriculture; and, purple areas are urban. Each 'stack' is representative of a Landsat scene. There are 22 stacks stitched together to cover most of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This processed data is used for science, natural resource management, and education.The visualization zooms into the Portland area showing different types of land such as agricultural, urban, and forests. We move south to a region that was evergreen forest for a number of years (blue), then was clear cut in 1999 (orange), then began to regrow (yellow). A graph shows the trajectories for a particular location in the clearcut as the years repeat. The dots represent the original data from Landsat; and, the line represents LandTrendr analysis. We move over to the Three Sisters region to show an area of pine forest that becomes infested with bark beetles in 2004. Next, we move to the southern foothills of Mount Hood where a budworm infestation is in progress; around 1991, the worms move on to another area and shrubs start to regrow. Next wemove to the east side of Mount Rainier National Park to see another budworm outbreak followed by shrub regrowth. Finally, we move to the west of Mount Rainier where we can see widespread clear cutting outside of the park, but no clear cutting inside the protected park land.Don't miss this related tour of the region. ||
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Yellowstone Burn Recovery
A combination of lightning, drought and human activity caused fires to scorch more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988. Within a year, burn scars cast a sharp outline on the 793,880 acres affected by fire, distinguishing wide sections of recovering forest, meadows, grasslands and wetlands from unburned areas of the park. After more than two decades, satellite instruments can still detect these scars from space.In the time-lapse video below, a series of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone's forests following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.Landsat Project Scientist Jeff Masek has been studying the recovery of the forest after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. In the video below, he talks about how Landsat satellites detect the burn scars from space and distinguish them from healthy, un-burned forest and from new growth.
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Las Vegas, 1972-2021
Timelapse animation of Lake Mead and the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1972-2021, as captured by Landsat sensors. The images are false-color, showing healthy vegetation in red. || Las_Vegas-wide-2021_print.jpg (1024x576) [226.8 KB] || Las_Vegas-wide-2021_searchweb.png (320x180) [119.1 KB] || Las_Vegas-wide-2021_thm.png (80x40) [7.7 KB] || Las_Vegas_1972-2021-tw.mp4 (1920x1080) [64.7 MB] || Las_Vegas_1972-2021-yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [129.5 MB] || Las_Vegas_1972-2021.mov (1920x1080) [2.3 GB] || Las_Vegas-wide-2021.tif (1920x1080) [7.9 MB] || Las_Vegas_1972-2021-tw.webm (1920x1080) [8.0 MB] ||
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Columbia Glacier, Alaska, 1986-2011
The Columbia Glacier in Alaska is one of many vanishing around the world. Glacier retreat is one of the most direct and understandable effects of climate change. The consequences of the decline in alpine glaciers include contributing to global sea level rise. ||
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Phoenix, AZ
Arizona's capital of Phoenix and its neighboring towns in Maricopa County have undergone a major population boom in the last 40 years, and its effects are seen in everything from the expansion of town and cities and to an increased demand for fresh water. ||
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Vermilion Parish, LA
Timelapse of six years in southern Vermilion Parish, Louisiana (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, 2003, 2010) land being overtaken by water. In these images from Landsat data, red indicates healthy vegetation and shades of blue indicate water. || Pecan_Island_2011.jpg (1280x720) [349.5 KB] || Pecan_Island_2003.jpg (1280x720) [369.1 KB] || Pecan_Island_1992.jpg (1280x720) [335.4 KB] || Pecan_Island_1986.jpg (1280x720) [350.0 KB] || Pecan_Island_1980.jpg (1280x720) [464.4 KB] || Pecan_Island_1973.jpg (1280x720) [290.8 KB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series.00002_print.jpg (1024x576) [148.9 KB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_thm.png (80x40) [17.6 KB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_web.png (320x180) [288.7 KB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [18.7 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_720x480.webmhd.webm (960x540) [4.2 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_prores.mov (1280x720) [602.1 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [13.6 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_appletv.m4v (960x540) [13.4 MB] || GSFC_20120723_Landsat_m11042_Vermilion.en_US.vtt [64 bytes] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_720x480.wmv (720x480) [7.7 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_ipod_lg.m4v (640x360) [5.5 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series.mov (640x360) [9.9 MB] || 7-Loveland-1-Pecan_series_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [2.1 MB] ||
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Landsat 40th Liveshot City Images
The following are U.S. cities imaged by Landsat over its 40 year span. Multiple years of selected cities are grouped together with specific years in parentheses. || Atlanta, Georgia || Atlanta_crop_321_1920x1080.jpg (1920x1080) [3.8 MB] || Atlanta_crop_321_1920x1080_web.png (320x180) [347.9 KB] || Baltimore, Maryland || Baltimore_321_crop_1920_1080.jpg (1920x1080) [3.7 MB] || Baltimore_321_crop_1920_1080_web.png (320x180) [349.9 KB] || Baltimore_321_crop_1920_1080_thm.png (80x40) [44.3 KB] ||
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City Growth on Flickr
Cities around the world have grown under Landsat's watch. Our Flickr page has then and now comparisons.
- Produced Video
Rebuilding Poplar Island
Poplar Island is being rebuilt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers using dredged mud from the Baltimore Harbor which lies about 30 miles (about 48 kilometers) north of the island. Reconstruction of the island began in 1998 with the erection of dikes to contain the mud.The growing island is a wildlife sanctuary, a hatchery for hundreds of diamondback terrapins and home to about 170 different species of birds including terns and bald eagles. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat. The USGS preserves the archive of Landsat images and distributes all of the 40-years of Landsat data free over the Internet. ||
- Produced Video
Zoom in to Smith Island, MD
As sea levels rise, islands in the Chesapeake Bay are disappearing under water. ||
- Produced Video
Forest Recovering From Mount St. Helens Eruption
The 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption was one of the most significant natural disasters in the US in the past half-century. The eruption laid waste to 230 square miles. Landsat captured the extent of the destruction, with grey tones revealing widespread lava flows and ash deposits. Subsequent Landsat images over the years show the spread of vegetation recovery across the site. ||
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Mississippi Flooding 2011
Heavy spring rains and snowmelt led to devastating floods along the Mississippi River in May 2011. Landsat 5 flew over the Mississippi River on May 10, 2011, giving a distinct view of the extraordinary extent of the flooding. This was only eight days after the Army Corps of Engineers began blasting holes in earthen levees near Cairo, Illinois, when the river reached a depth of 61 feet. The extent of the 2011 flooding is compared with the same locations in April 2010. ||
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Landsat's Global Perspective
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1972 launch of the Landsat 1 spacecraft, this is a "greatest hits" montage of Landsat data. Throughout the decades, the Landsat satellites have given us a detailed view of the changes to Earth's land surface. By collecting data in multiple wavelength regions, including thermal infrared wavelengths, the Landsat fleet has allowed us to study natural disasters, urban change, water quality and water usage, agriculture development, glaciers and ice sheets, and forest health.NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available data over the Internet. ||
Celebrating Milestones
Landsat—From the Archives
Go to this pageThe Landsat program is the longest continuous global record of Earth observations from space — ever. On July 23, 1972 NASA launched the first satellite in this program, then known as ERTS, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite and later renamed Landsat 1. In honor of that history, NASA edited together selections of an archive video from 1973 about the ERTS launch.Featured in this 1973 video was a senior geologist at NASA, Nicholas Short, and at Dartmouth College, Robert Simpson and David Lindgren. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a nearly 50-year archive of Landsat data that is freely available over the Internet. The next Landsat satellite, known as Landsat 9, is scheduled for launch in 2021.For more information about Landsat visit www.nasa.gov/landsat, or landsat.usgs.govTo watch the entire 23-minute long NASA archive video of the ERTS Launch, go here. ||
Landsat 8 Launch footage
Go to this pageThe Landsat Data Continuity Mission launched on February 11, 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket.LDCM will be renamed Landsat 8 when operations are handed over to the US Geological Survey on May 30, 2013. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available data over the Internet. ||
Landsat 8 Video File
Go to this pageThe Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will continue the Landsat Program's 40-year data record of monitoring Earth's landscapes from space. LDCM will expand and improve on that record with observations that advance a wide range of Earth sciences and contribute to the management of agriculture, water and forest resources.The LDCM observatory was successfully launched aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket on February 11, 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The operation of the satellite will be handed over to the U.S. Geological Survey on May 30, 2013. ||
5th Anniversary of Landsat 8's Launch
Go to this pageIn its five years in space, Landsat 8 made 26,500 orbits around Earth and captured 1.1 million "scenes" of our home planet, representing 16 percent of all the observations kept in the 45-year Landsat archive.Music: Divine Punishment by Christopher Franke [BMI]Complete transcript available. || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_large.01975_print.jpg (1024x576) [50.2 KB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_large.01975_searchweb.png (320x180) [7.1 KB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_large.01975_thm.png (80x40) [1.4 KB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_prores_1920.mov (1920x1080) [4.7 GB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_prores_1280.mov (1280x720) [2.5 GB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_large.mp4 (1920x1080) [191.3 MB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_youtube_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [327.2 MB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_youtube_720.mp4 (1280x720) [315.6 MB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year_twitter_720.mp4 (1280x720) [53.5 MB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year.webm (960x540) [76.4 MB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year-captions.en_US.srt [3.8 KB] || 12851_Landsat8_5_year-captions.en_US.vtt [3.8 KB] ||
Landsat 8 Celebrates First Year in Orbit
Go to this pageOn Feb. 11, 2013, Landsat 8 launched into Earth orbit, riding on an Atlas V rocket. Weighing 6,133 pounds, Landsat 8 is the eigth satellite in the long-running Landsat program, jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. At 16 feet tall, with a 32 foot long solar array, Landsat 8 orbits Earth at an altitude of 438 miles, moving at a speed of 16,760 miles per hour. It takes 99 minutes to complete one orbit, with about 14.5 orbits each day. There have been 5,319 orbits in the first year of Landsat 8's mission. It takes 16 days to build a complete scan of the globe, and on the 17th day the orbit cycle begins again.Between the two instruments on board, Landsat 8 records data in 11 separate wavelength regions spanning visible, infrared, and thermal radiation. The data is transmitted several times a day to the USGS Earth Resources and Observation Science Center in Sioux Falls, SD, where it is added to the archive of Landsat data stretching back to 1972. In its first year, users have downloaded 1,322,969 scenes of Landsat 8 data from the USGS.Landsat 8 continues the decades-long Landsat record of Earth's land surface at a scale where the impacts of humans and nature can be detected and monitored over time. Every continent, every season, every year, at a resolution that can distinguish an area the size of a baseball field. With help from Landsat we can monitor the cultivation of our food crops, quantify our precious water resources as they ebb and flow, and track deforestation globally. Landsat data constitute a key ingredient in decision making for agriculture, climate research, disaster mitigation, ecosystems, forestry, human health, urban growth, and water management. ||
Landsat 40th Liveshot Roll-in Video
Go to this pageOn Friday, July 20th, in advance of Landsat's 40th birthday and a live NASA press conference on Monday the 23rd, NASA scientists are available to discuss amazing & unprecedented images from space of your region. Cities grow, wildfires rage, rivers flood out of their beds and droughts shrink lakes and reservoirs — all captured by Landsat, the world's longest continuous record of Earth from space. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have been orbiting Earth, telling the story of soil moisture, urban spread, land use, assist disasters & recovery. Next year, the 8th Landsat satellite (LDCM) will be launched from California. The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) will track food production and water resources, organize disaster recovery and monitor the impact of climate change.The following is broadcast quality video roll-ins in Apple ProRes 422, 1280x720, 59.94 fps. ||
Best of "Earth As Art" - Top Five
Go to this pageA series of Landsat satellites have surveyed the Earth's surface since 1972. In that time, Landsat data have become a vital reference worldwide, used for understanding scientific issues related to land use and natural resources. However, some Landsat images are simply striking to look at - presenting spectacular views of mountains and valleys, forests and farms. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Landsat, the US Geological Survey and NASA asked for your help in selecting the top five Earth As Art images. ||
Earth Observing Landsat 5 Turns 25 Years Old
Go to this pageStill observing the Earth after 25 years—22 beyond its three-year primary mission lifetime—Landsat 5 collects valuable scientific data daily. Some attribute the satellite's longevity to over-engineering. Others say it's a long run of good luck. Whatever the reason, no one who attended the satellite's March 1984 launch could have expected it would still be working today.For complete transcript, click here. || Landsat5_turns_25_ipodLG.00202_print.jpg (1024x576) [73.2 KB] || Landsat5_turns_25_ipodLG_web.png (320x180) [149.4 KB] || Landsat5_turns_25_ipodLG_thm.png (80x40) [13.9 KB] || Landsat5_turns_25_appletv.webmhd.webm (960x540) [51.8 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_appletv.m4v (960x540) [87.6 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_YouTube.mov (1280x720) [56.6 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_fullresH264.mov (1280x720) [119.3 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_ipodLG.m4v (640x360) [42.3 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_svsSM.mpg (512x288) [32.8 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_ipodSM.m4v (320x180) [16.4 MB] || Landsat5_turns_25_NASAcast.mp4 (320x236) [30.9 MB] || GSFC_20090227_Landsat5turns25.wmv (346x260) [30.5 MB] ||