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Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. 

Click on an episode title below to visit the episode page. Episode pages include related content, transcript access, and full episode credits.

Search the podcast archive by topic here.

The Eyes on Earth podcast is currently hosted by Tom Adamson, Jane Lawson, and Sheri Levisay (contractors for USGS EROS). Episodes are produced by Tom Adamson. Past hosts include John Hult and Steve Young (contractors for USGS EROS). Past producers include John Hult and Brian Hauge (contractors for USGS EROS). 
 

Latest Episodes

Episode 135 – Exotic Annual Grasses and Sheep Grazing

Release date: Tuesday, May 27, 2025
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A mountainside with sheep and tree trunks, plus mugshots of three men and a woman, plus a white title
Trenton Benedict (from top), Matthew Rigge, Kelly Hopping and Devendra Dahal.

Exotic annual grasses, or EAGs, are invasive species. They outcompete native grasses. They are extremely flammable. And they are expanding into higher elevations. Targeted sheep grazing is one way to combat these invasive grasses, manage fire risk, and help restore native sagebrush in western states. 

The EROS team releases weekly EAG maps during the peak green-up in late April to early June, along with annual phenology maps to show the seasonal timing of the green-up. Dr. Kelly Hopping at Boise State University is using these maps to see whether targeted sheep grazing can help manage EAGs. The maps help researchers work with sheep producers to know when is the best time to move the sheep into those areas so their grazing can do the most good. The sheep then, as a part of the team solving the problem of invasive grasses, get to eat in the field when they might not otherwise have grazing available. Learn more in this Eyes on Earth episode.

Guests:
Kelly Hopping, Boise State University
Matthew Rigge, USGS EROS
Devendra Dahal, KBR, contractor for USGS EROS
Trenton Benedict, KBR, contractor for USGS EROS

 

Episode 134 – Data Accuracy: The Calibration and Validation of Landsat

Release date: Monday, May 5, 2025
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A man stands by a giant globe in a long hallway with skylights and a little white text on top
Cody Anderson

Landsat is the longest-running, continuously operating record of Earth observations, and it’s the gold standard reference point that other civil and commercial satellite programs trust. If a researcher is studying multiple Landsat images of the same spot on Earth, and there is something in those images that suggests a change, that researcher needs to have the confidence that that change is a real change on the landscape and not because of something that changed or degraded in the sensor. Think of it this way. We are using a system to quantify changes on the Earth—we need to make sure the system itself is not changing.

Guest: Cody Anderson, USGS EROS

 

Episode 133 – Vietnam War Bomb Craters

Release date: Monday, April 21, 2025
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A black and white satellite image with several words in white on top, plus a color mugshot of a man
Philipp Barthelme

Declassified spy satellite imagery, distributed by the USGS EROS Center, is finding fascinating uses since being made available to the public starting in the 1990s. In this episode, we talk with Philipp Barthelme from the University of Edinburgh, who used imagery from the declassified HEXAGON and CORONA satellites to map bomb craters and herbicide spray lines from the Vietnam War. These features appear in the black and white photos quite clearly, so Barthelme worked out machine learning methods to automatically detect them. This method can help narrow down where to search for unexploded weapons and focus on the areas that are most contaminated. 

Guest: Philipp Barthelme, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

 

Episode 132 – Moving Forward with AI at EROS

Release date: Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Media
An image with a little text in white, a brain with several lights in the background and four men's mugshots
Clockwise from top left: Rylie Fleckenstein, Pete Doucette, Neal Pastick & Terry Sohl

Eyes on Earth tackles artificial intelligence (AI) in a 2-part episode. AI is quickly becoming a necessary part of geospatial work at EROS, helping us efficiently do science to better manage our world. In Part 1, we talked about AI’s current and upcoming impact on our work at EROS and clarified some of the AI jargon. The successful use of AI to make NLCD an annual product was a key example.

In Part 2, we discuss another potential application of AI—keeping Landsat satellites safe and healthy in orbit. Additionally, guests comment on how readily staff are adapting to using this rapidly evolving technology. They discuss the biggest benefits and challenges we face in using AI. Among the benefits are making EROS data products more accurate and reliable and getting them to the public in a more timely fashion.

Guests: 

Pete Doucette, USGS EROS
Terry Sohl, USGS EROS
Neal Pastick, USGS EROS
Rylie Fleckenstein, contractor for USGS EROS

 

Episode 131 – Using AI in Geospatial Work

Release Date: Monday, March 3, 2025
Media
Thumbnail image for Eyes on Earth Episode 131 – Using AI in Geospatial Work, showing photos of the four guests
Rylie Fleckenstein, Pete Doucette, Terry Sohl, & Neal Pastick

Eyes on Earth tackles artificial intelligence (AI) in a 2-part episode. AI is quickly becoming a necessary part of geospatial work at EROS, helping us efficiently do science to better manage our world. In Part 1, EROS Director Pete Doucette discusses AI and its current and upcoming impact on our work at EROS. To help clarify AI terminology such as machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, transformers, and foundation models, we also talk to scientists who are using AI. And we learn about how AI enabled the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) to become an annual product.

Part 2 will discuss one more potential application of AI—keeping Landsat satellites safe and healthy in orbit. We also have all of our guests comment on AI’s challenges and benefits.

Guests: 
Pete Doucette, USGS EROS
Terry Sohl, USGS EROS
Neal Pastick, USGS EROS
Rylie Fleckenstein, contractor for USGS EROS

 

Episode 130 – NLCD Accuracy

Release Date: Monday, January 6, 2025
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Thumbnail image for Eyes on Earth Episode 130 – NLCD Accuracy, showing photo of Jo Horton
Jo Horton

Every pixel has a story. At least that’s how land remote sensing scientist Jo Horton sees it. The new Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) was just released in October 2024. NLCD is widely used for land cover and change research in the U.S. That’s why the Reference and Validation team provides accuracy metrics to users, and this work allows EROS to move land cover mapping science forward. Learn about what the Reference and Validation team does and what they are looking for when they closely examine thousands of Landsat sample pixels across the conterminous U.S. It sometimes involves some detective work as they figure out the stories of each pixel across time.

Guest: Jo Horton (contractor for USGS EROS)

 

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