Images

On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Winter Storm Enzo brought an exceptionally rare snowfall to the Greater Houston metro area of Texas. The National Weather Service reported 5.5 inches (14 cm) in Baytown, a city located east of Houston on the northern shore of Galveston Bay. Other cities and locales received upwards of 3 to 4 inches (7.6 to 10.2 cm).

 This map of California displays the LCMAP (Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection) Primary Land Cover for California in 1985. The green represents forests (tree cover). Learn more in a study. USGS EROS map

 This map of California displays the LCMAP (Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection) Primary Land Cover for California in 2021. The green represents forests (tree cover). Learn more in the study. USGS EROS map

The USGS provides research-quality, applications-ready Landsat Level-2 and Level-3 science products to support an array of land surface change studies. Collection 2 Level-2 scene-based science products include Surface Reflectance, Surface Temperature, Surface Reflectance-Derived Spectral Indices, and Provisional Aquatic Reflectance.

These animations are from Butte and Plumas counties in northeastern California from 1985 to 2021. On the left is Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection, or LCMAP (v1.3), land cover, with green representing forests (tree cover). On the right is true-color Landsat satellite imagery.

These animations are from the Wragg Fire that occurred north of San Francisco, California, in 2015. On the left is Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection, or LCMAP (v1.3), land cover, with green representing forests (tree cover). On the right is false-color Landsat satellite imagery.

Louisiana is home to numerous salt domes, including the five distinct coastal salt dome islands that can be found in the southern part of the state near the Gulf of America. Formed by the upward pressure of ancient salt deposits, these hills rise above the surrounding marshes and coastal plains of Louisiana.

Poster introducing the 2023 Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD).  "Development and Cloud Implementation of the New Annual NLCD for the United States." Created by USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Find full PDF here.

The tragic fires sweeping across the Greater Los Angeles area in January 2025 have burned more than 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,300 structures, and prompted evacuation orders and warnings for as many as 200,000 residents. Exceptionally dry conditions, coupled with strong Santa Ana winds, have fueled the fires.

The USGS EROS Landsat archive recently reached a milestone of 12 million Landsat Collection 2 Level-1 products. These are available for download at no charge.  The image representing this milestone displays a sprawling desert landscape and contains a multitude of agricultural, geological, and urban features.

The tragic fires sweeping across the Greater Los Angeles area have burned more than 40,000 acres, destroyed more than 12,300 structures, and prompted evacuation orders and warnings for as many as 200,000 residents. Exceptionally dry conditions, coupled with strong Santa Ana winds, have fueled the fires.

Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 kicked off 2025 by acquiring over 1,400 scenes on the first of January. This Landsat 9 image of Emi Koussi in the Tibesti Range of Chad is a mosaic of two of the many scenes collected. Emi Koussi is an extinct shield volcano that rises to 11,204 feet (3,415 meters) above sea level, making it the highest summit in Chad and the Sahara Desert.

The USGS Landsat archive holds over fifty years of Earth-Observing satellite data. This animation displays the cumulative number of Landsat scenes since 1972. The colors on the maps show the density of the number of Landsat Level-1 products. 

Burn Severity Map of the August Complex wildfire, created by the USGS Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program. The August Complex, which burned over 1 million acres in California in 2020, is the largest wildfire in state history.

The Wind River Range, located in west-central Wyoming, is a unique wilderness area that rises from the high plains of the South Pass of the Continental Divide and runs northwest to the Yellowstone Plateau. The Winds, as they are affectionately known, are exceptionally long, wide, high, rugged, and remote.

A seamless 1-meter Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Lower Androscoggin watershed in Maine, produced by scientists at the USGS National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) and USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Elevations run from low elevation in light blue on up to tan, green, yellow, red and finally gray/white.

Landsat 8 image of Lake Thompson in South Dakota, showing a November algal bloom.

Image date: November 22, 2024
Path 30, Row 29
Band combinations: 654 (false color) to show the algal bloom, and then blended with 432 (natural color) to show the snow.

Thumbnail image for video: 1 Hour of Earth From Above: Relaxing Landsat Satellite Imagery

Watch here: https://eros.usgs.gov/media-gallery/video-landsat/landsat-1-hour-of-ima…

Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2023 Land Cover in central Florida, with black lines representing railroads that crisscross the region. Railroads are integral in the phosphate mining process.

Annual National Land Cover Database image of Land Cover for Bone Valley, Florida, in 1985. Barren land cover (gray) and ponded water (dark blue) are typical of an active mine. Natural vegetation includes grassland (light tan), pasture/hay (yellow), wetland (light blue colors) and shrubland (dark tan). Urban areas are shown in shades of red.

Annual National Land Cover Database image of Land Cover for Bone Valley, Florida, in 2023. Barren land cover (gray) and ponded water (dark blue) are typical of an active mine. Natural vegetation includes grassland (light tan), pasture/hay (yellow), wetland (light blue colors) and shrubland (dark tan). Urban areas are shown in shades of red.