The Charter concept is this: a single phone number is made available to authorized parties providing 24/7 contact to a person who can activate the charter. Once activated, a project manager takes charge. The project manager knows what satellite resources are available, how to task them to collect data, and how to quickly analyze the collected data to create impact maps for first responders. These maps, provided to responders for free, often show where the damage is and where crisis victims are, allowing responders to plan and execute relief support.
You can think of the Charter as a one-stop-shop for impact maps—an essential resource, since in many cases satellite data are the only practical method to assess current ground conditions after a disaster.
This month, 34 Landsat scenes were ingested by the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System to provide data for Charter activations:
+ Flood in Peru
+ Flood in the Dominican Republic
+ Cyclone Debbie in Australia
+ Flood in Argentina
+ Flood in Canada
The USGS HDDS also provided 76 Landsat scenes for:
+ Kilauea volcano in Hawaii
+ Flood in the U.S.
+ Tornado in the U.S.
+ Fire in U.S.
+ Landslide in U.S.
Details from the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System’s RSS feed for Charter activations:
On 2017-05-02 10:29:11, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_DOM
On 2017-05-03 09:13:08, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201703_Cyclone_Debbie_AUS
On 2017-05-04 09:10:22, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201703_Cyclone_Debbie_AUS
On 2017-05-05 11:43:47, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Cyclone_Debbie_AUS
On 2017-05-05 11:51:36, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Cyclone_Debbie_AUS
On 2017-05-05 12:01:25, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Cyclone_Debbie_AUS
On 2017-05-05 15:10:08, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Flood_ARG
On 2017-05-05 15:18:09, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Flood_ARG
On 2017-05-05 15:26:29, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Flood_ARG
On 2017-05-08 11:22:37, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_ARG
On 2017-05-08 11:31:54, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_ARG
On 2017-05-08 11:43:52, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_PER
On 2017-05-08 11:51:34, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_PER
On 2017-05-08 16:20:14, 5 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_CAN
On 2017-05-09 09:13:34, 4 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_PER
Landsat data ingested by HDDS for non-charter activations:
On 2017-05-02 09:47:04, 4 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-02 09:57:46, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-02 10:19:31, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
On 2017-05-02 12:27:23, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-03 09:27:03, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
On 2017-05-03 09:36:26, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Fire_US
On 2017-05-03 09:54:57, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-04 09:02:22, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-04 09:20:07, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 14:15:24, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-05 14:26:31, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-05 15:09:23, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-05 15:19:46, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-05 15:32:22, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-05 15:36:55, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 15:45:43, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 15:54:07, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 16:01:56, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 16:11:20, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-05 16:16:56, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-08 10:04:55, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-08 10:12:06, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-08 10:20:09, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-08 10:31:15, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-08 10:42:26, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201703_Landslide_US
On 2017-05-08 11:14:46, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-08 11:34:10, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
On 2017-05-08 11:50:22, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Fire_US
On 2017-05-08 12:02:27, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-08 12:03:05, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Fire_US
On 2017-05-08 12:09:14, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-09 09:24:25, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
On 2017-05-09 09:34:16, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Fire_US
On 2017-05-09 09:44:17, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-09 09:54:13, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-09 10:11:23, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-10 13:49:24, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201704_Fire_US
On 2017-05-10 14:07:00, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-10 14:23:02, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
On 2017-05-10 14:33:47, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Flood_Central_US
On 2017-05-10 14:50:34, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201705_Tornado_US
On 2017-05-12 11:24:18, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-15 13:27:50, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-15 13:30:03, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-22 09:30:58, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-30 14:13:42, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-30 14:30:12, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2017-05-31 09:09:59, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201704_Flood_US
Above the Earth, Below the Surface: Landsat’s Role in Monitoring Water Quality
September 18, 2023
Safeguarding freshwater resources is crucial, and while scientists use a variety of ground-based techniques to gauge water quality, the Landsat program has provided water quality data from orbit for decades.
