News Archives
New Technique Tracks ‘Heartbeat’ of Hundreds of Wetlands
Across the U.S. and particularly in Washington state, very little is known about the acreage, yearly flooding cycles and even the actual locations of wetlands. Even hazier is what could happen to these vital ecosystems under climate change.
USGS Partners with European Space Agency to Deliver Copernicus Earth Data
USGS and ESA have established an innovative partnership to enable USGS storage and redistribution of Earth observation data acquired by Copernicus program satellites.
126 Landsat Images Provided to International Charter, Feb. 2016
This month, 126 Landsat scenes were ingested by the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System to provide data for Charter activations.
Landsat 8 Used to Pinpoint Shipwrecks
Nearshore shipwrecks can leave telltale sediment plumes at the sea’s surface that reveal their location. Using Landsat 8 data, researchers have detected plumes extending as far as 4 kilometers (~2.5 miles) downstream from shallow shipwreck sites. This discovery demonstrates that Landsat and Landsat-like satellites can be used to locate the watery graves of coastal shipwrecks.
Documenting Spatial and Temporal Trends of Drought
We turned to the remote sensing archive to determine if drought altered forest structure over the course of a decade-and-a-half. We analyzed 22 years of Landsat satellite data to determine changes in forest condition between 1985 and 2012.
Landsat 8 TIRS Updates from USGS
As of Feb. 12, 2016, many of the Landsat 8 scenes acquired from October to December 2015 have been reprocessed into nominal Level-1 products containing valid TIRS data and are available for download, and can also be submitted for higher-level Surface Reflectance data processing via the ESPA On-demand interface.
A New Observation Method That Sees the Forest for the Trees
A marriage in the remote forests of China promises to unite two important forces to better inform the health and future of biodiversity. The union is reported in this week’s journal Ecological Indicators by Michigan State University researchers.
56 Landsat Images Provided to International Charter, Jan. 2016
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.
News Archives
Landsat at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting
At this year’s AGU Fall meeting over 325 presentations feature research done using Landsat data. The Landsat-related papers and posters run the gamut of disciplines from cryosphere to biogeoscience to hydrology to global environmental change to natural hazards to informatics.
Land Change Trends, Midwest–South Central U.S., 1973 to 2000
A new Landsat-based report on land use trends in the Midwest and South Central U.S. between 1973 and 2000 was released by USGS this month.
TIRS Anomaly
On Nov. 1, 2015 the TIRS instrument experienced an anomalous condition related to the instrument’s ability to accurately measure the location of the Scene Select Mirror.
Ten Critical Satellites for Monitoring Earth's Vital Signs
Peter Miller writing for National Geographic, included Landsat as one of ten critical Earth-observing satellites for monitoring our planet. Miller’s article appeared online in mid-October as well as in the November 2015 print edition of National Geographic Magazine.
Government Leaders Endorse Forests as Key Climate Solution
Heads of Government from major forest countries and partner countries joined together on Nov. 30, 2015 to endorse forests as a key climate solution. They recommitted to providing strong, collective and urgent action to promote equitable rural economic development while slowing, halting and reversing deforestation and massively increasing forest restoration.
56 Landsat Images Provided to International Charter in November 2015
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.
Recounting Recent Fire History of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve
When you think of Southern Florida’s vast everglades, fire is not something that usually comes to mind, but the region has a long history of seasonal fires.
Animating the “Karakoram Anomaly” with Landsat
Capitalizing on the long Landsat data record and the human brain’s capacity to recognize movement, Frank Paul from the University of Zurich has created glacier animations that enable viewers to witness the complex flow of glaciers.
"Landsat—Earth Observation Satellites" a New USGS Fact Sheet
The USGS Publications Warehouse, has just published a new Landsat fact sheet, that briefly describes Landsat’s history, and provides information about satellite acquisitions, sensor and band designations, applications of Landsat data, Landsat data products and processing, obtaining Landsat data products, and the Landsat Science Team.
News Archives
Landsat at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting
At this year’s AGU Fall meeting over 325 presentations feature research done using Landsat data. The Landsat-related papers and posters run the gamut of disciplines from cryosphere to biogeoscience to hydrology to global environmental change to natural hazards to informatics.
Land Change Trends, Midwest–South Central U.S., 1973 to 2000
A new Landsat-based report on land use trends in the Midwest and South Central U.S. between 1973 and 2000 was released by USGS this month.
TIRS Anomaly
On Nov. 1, 2015 the TIRS instrument experienced an anomalous condition related to the instrument’s ability to accurately measure the location of the Scene Select Mirror.
Ten Critical Satellites for Monitoring Earth's Vital Signs
Peter Miller writing for National Geographic, included Landsat as one of ten critical Earth-observing satellites for monitoring our planet. Miller’s article appeared online in mid-October as well as in the November 2015 print edition of National Geographic Magazine.
Government Leaders Endorse Forests as Key Climate Solution
Heads of Government from major forest countries and partner countries joined together on Nov. 30, 2015 to endorse forests as a key climate solution. They recommitted to providing strong, collective and urgent action to promote equitable rural economic development while slowing, halting and reversing deforestation and massively increasing forest restoration.
56 Landsat Images Provided to International Charter in November 2015
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.
Recounting Recent Fire History of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve
When you think of Southern Florida’s vast everglades, fire is not something that usually comes to mind, but the region has a long history of seasonal fires.
Animating the “Karakoram Anomaly” with Landsat
Capitalizing on the long Landsat data record and the human brain’s capacity to recognize movement, Frank Paul from the University of Zurich has created glacier animations that enable viewers to witness the complex flow of glaciers.
"Landsat—Earth Observation Satellites" a New USGS Fact Sheet
The USGS Publications Warehouse, has just published a new Landsat fact sheet, that briefly describes Landsat’s history, and provides information about satellite acquisitions, sensor and band designations, applications of Landsat data, Landsat data products and processing, obtaining Landsat data products, and the Landsat Science Team.
