Landsat Science

Landsat Science

Landsat Science

Landsat Science

50 Years of

Landsat Science

“If you really want a long history of understanding any process on Earth, Landsat is where you should go.”

-Tasso Azevedo, MapBiomas Initiative

50 Years of

Landsat Science

“If you really want a long history of understanding any process on Earth, Landsat is where you should go.”

-Tasso Azevedo, MapBiomas Initiative

50 Years of

Landsat Science

“If you really want a long history of understanding any process on Earth, Landsat is where you should go.”

-Tasso Azevedo, MapBiomas Initiative

Landsat Next Defined

Landsat Next Defined

June 29, 2023

Landsat Next is on the horizon—the new mission will not only ensure continuity of the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, it will fundamentally transform the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users. Take a look at the new capabilities that will define the next Landsat mission.

A natural color Landsat 8 image of marshlands surrounding the Delaware Bay. This image was part of a NASA Earth Observatory story titled: "Delaware’s Tidal Wetlands."

Interested in Being Part of the Next Landsat Science Team?

October 8, 2024

The U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Mission announced a presolicitation for a new Landsat Science team. The Landsat Science Team conducts research that is integral to both the Landsat program and the Sustainable Land Imaging program.

Landsat 8 Image of destruction in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Tracking Losses in the Amazon, Beyond the Rainforest

September 23, 2024

The Amazon is in trouble. Researchers found that, between 2000 and 2022, the Brazilian Amazon lost about 10% of its natural non-forest vegetation.

The image above, acquired on March 7, 2024, with the (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9, shows several watering holes and rivers within Etosha National Park and areas north.

Tracking Elephants Across Namibia

September 17, 2024

In a new study, researchers used GPS tracking data and satellite imagery to map elephant movement in northwestern Namibia, looking for corridors of connectivity.

Landsat Next Defined

Landsat Next Defined

June 29, 2023

Landsat Next is on the horizon—the new mission will not only ensure continuity of the longest space-based record of Earth’s land surface, it will fundamentally transform the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users. Take a look at the new capabilities that will define the next Landsat mission.

A natural color Landsat 8 image of marshlands surrounding the Delaware Bay. This image was part of a NASA Earth Observatory story titled: "Delaware’s Tidal Wetlands."

Interested in Being Part of the Next Landsat Science Team?

October 8, 2024

The U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Mission announced a presolicitation for a new Landsat Science team. The Landsat Science Team conducts research that is integral to both the Landsat program and the Sustainable Land Imaging program.

Landsat 8 Image of destruction in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Tracking Losses in the Amazon, Beyond the Rainforest

September 23, 2024

The Amazon is in trouble. Researchers found that, between 2000 and 2022, the Brazilian Amazon lost about 10% of its natural non-forest vegetation.

The image above, acquired on March 7, 2024, with the (Operational Land Imager-2) on Landsat 9, shows several watering holes and rivers within Etosha National Park and areas north.

Tracking Elephants Across Namibia

September 17, 2024

In a new study, researchers used GPS tracking data and satellite imagery to map elephant movement in northwestern Namibia, looking for corridors of connectivity.

Pyramid Lake in Bloom Blooms of cyanobacteria develop in the brackish waters of this Nevada lake nearly every year.

Pyramid Lake in Bloom

October 17, 2024

Intense, Widespread Drought Grips South America Insufficient rainfall in 2023-2024 has taken a toll on the region’s rivers and groundwater and upended daily life in several countries.

Intense, Widespread Drought Grips South America

October 10, 2024

First Stop: Tofua British Royal Naval officer William Bligh and 18 loyalists headed for this volcanic island in Tonga after a mutiny on the HMS Bounty.

First Stop: Tofua

October 10, 2024

“Sterling service of over four decades of Earth Observations. No ifs, no buts, just a long-term mission to aid science & society.”

— Prof. Chris Rizos, Geodesy & Navigation at University of New South Wales; commenting on the Landsat 8 5-year anniversary , Feb 14, 2018

“Having a carefully calibrated multi-satellite record allows us to ensure that we are recording changes to the Earth, and not simply changes in the instrument response. The more detailed observations from Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 allow these subtle changes to be teased out of the long-term record unambiguously.”

— Jeff Masek, Landsat 9 Project Scientist (NASA) , Nov 4, 2021

“We like to think about Landsat as being, for this particular problem, sort of the sweet spot—the perfect asset. We found Landsat was really good at mapping the bulk of biomass for this particular test area we were looking at.”

— Michael Sayers, Research Scientist, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), on mapping submerged aquatic vegetation in the Great Lakes , Jul 9, 2021

“Tropical deforestation plays a big role in global climate cycles… without the transparency of Landsat satellite data is difficult to put your finger on changing trends.”

— Douglas Morton, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Feb 25, 2015

“There is a sensor in the Landsat satellite which measures the intensity of the reflected radiation back into space. What if we could use satellite imagery from the Landsat program to find fossils?”

— Robert Anemone , Oct 22, 2014

“Every pixel in a Landsat product is a scientific measurement and every pixel has been very carefully calibrated.”

— Chris Engebretson, USGS Landsat Next Ground System Manager (acting) , May 6, 2024

“For our main aim of quantifying surface water extent dynamics during a period of high hydro-climatic variability, Landsat was the only satellite archive to meet all our criteria.”

— Mirela Tulbure , May 25, 2016

“Landsat data has proved invaluable for much of the work we do to try and comprehend how Earth’s cryosphere is responding to a warming planet and to infer what those results mean for our collective future.”

— Alex Gardner, NASA JPL Cryosphere Scientist , Jan 19, 2024

“We cannot replace Landsat with Copernicus. In fact the programs complement each other. The world has been benefitting from Landsat data for the past 40 years now. It is really a unique and extremely valuable data source that has provided knowledge and understanding of the planet.”

— Josef Aschbacher, Director of EO Programs, European Space Agency , Oct 3, 2018

“Landsat enabled us to collect a multi-decadal record of the [river] reaches at almost annual resolution. By extending our record into the past we were able to examine how the reaches changed through time providing us with a truly invaluable dataset.”

— Joshua Ahmed, Cardiff University , Dec 18, 2015

“Landsat Next… will provide significantly improved data on global environment change, natural resource utilization, and dynamic landscapes; all information needed to inform future policy decisions and to drive groundbreaking advances for multiple scientific disciplines.”

— National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine , Sep 1, 2024

“There’s a lot of information sitting in those spectral bands that is waiting to be uncovered.”

— Sean Vitousek, USGS Research Oceanographer, on the information held within Landsat and Sentinel-2 data , Jul 15, 2024

“[Landsat] has transformed our understanding of Earth and allows us to better monitor and respond to changes on our planet.”

— Dave Applegate, acting USGS director , Feb 8, 2022

“Those are the Islands of the Four Mountains… The Landsat image shows them on June 8, 2013… One of the things I love about science is how it gives us perspective.”

— Phil Plait , Jan 8, 2015

“Timelapse in Google Earth is possible because of the commitment to open and accessible data through NASA and the United States Geological Survey’s Landsat program (the world’s first and longest-running civilian Earth observation program) and the European Union’s Copernicus program with its Sentinel satellites.”

— Chris Herwig, Program Manager, Google Earth Engine , Apr 4, 2023

“It’s a fantastic time to be a user of satellite data, if you’re in that moderate resolution domain this is amazing. The Sentinels and Landsat together is going to be really a game changer. It truly is.”

— David Roy, Professor at South Dakota State University’s Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence , Feb 27, 2018

“When I arrived in Gombe 50-plus years ago, looking up at the stars, it never occurred to me that one day, we’d be relying on remote sensing—satellites circling the globe high above—to help unite communities of people and save Gombe’s chimpanzees. NASA—through its resources and data and funding—is helping us to apply the kinds of innovative solutions needed to address the complex problems people and chimpanzees face today.”

— Jane Goodall , Sep 29, 2015

“Giant kelp forests are especially sensitive to environmental changes and have a history of undergoing abrupt, dramatic declines and increases in response to a variety of climatic and human-induced factors. The application of our remote sensing methods to the long-term (continuous since 1984), high frequency (~ once per month) global coverage of Landsat imagery is providing a unique opportunity for studying these dynamics over spatial and temporal scales that were previously impossible to e…

— Santa Barbara Coastal Long Term Ecological Research , Oct 15, 2014

“Whether it’s since 1985 or 2000, we see this greening of the Arctic evident in the Landsat record.”

— Logan Berner, a global change ecologist, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff , Sep 23, 2020

“[W]e see—at least in the commercial sector—that these missions really depend on Landsat as a reference calibrated measurement to adjust or align their measurements to Landsat.”

— Chris Crawford, USGS Research Physical Scientist & USGS Landsat Project Scientist , Jul 1, 2022

“Landsat has really become the gold standard of remote sensing from space. It’s provided an invaluable, indelible record of the recent history of our planet.”

— Anne Castle, assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior , Jul 23, 2012

“It’s being able to go back in time for the same location, with the same program, that’s given us a tremendous amount of really valuable information… With Landsat we can do that because the archive is so rich.”

— Alan Belward, scientist at European Union’s Joint Research Center , Oct 18, 2017

“Very importantly, big data and its use for societal good is based on really progressive data policies. The Landsat sensor has 40 years of data in the archive and it is available to anyone on the planet.”

— Matt Hansen , Oct 21, 2015

“The results of the Scopus bibliometric analysis indicate that inland water quality remote sensing has been growing dramatically since its introduction in the 1970s…The most pronounced year-on-year jump occurs right after 2008, which corresponds to the public release of freely available Landsat imagery by NASA and the US Geological Survey…This result is consistent with previous research showing that for multiple earth observation fields, the release of the Landsat archive resulted in more fr…

— Simon N. Topp et al., 2020 , Jan 7, 2020

The NASA/USGS Landsat Program provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land in existence. Landsat data give us information essential for making informed decisions about Earth’s resources and environment.