Images

32 satellite images are vying for the coveted title of Earthshot. See the images and download your bracket here:

https://geonarrative.usgs.gov/earthshots-tournament/

A Landsat Surface Reflectance (SR) Normalized Difference Index (NDVI) map of the San Joaquin Valley region of California on March 13, 2023.

Use the filters on the right and the map tools to narrow down an area of interest with 10,000 products or less. After filtering, select the download icon in the bottom right corner.

Image of the Week (IOW) Cheyenne Bottoms Dries Out thumbnail. Image of the Week highlights satellite and other remote sensing imagery from around the world.

Select the "Download" button in the top right corner to download the filtered results from the map. 

From the download options select "Data." If the "Data" option is grayed out, filter out more products. Use "Data" from the downloads options instead of "Crosstab" to obtain individual product information from the filtered results.

The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara, is a prominent circular geological formation in the Sahara Desert. The formation stretches across a 40 km-wide region in Mauritania in Northwest Africa.

This mosaic of the Richat Structure and surrounding area was creating using four natural color Landsat 9 images (Bands 4,3,2): 

Pecora award 2023 flyer announcing call for nominations, due April 15, 2023. This image details the procedure for nominations, eligibility, and privacy statement. Visit this USGS page for eligibility requirements and the nomination process. 

A New RCMAP Factsheet is available. View it here: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/fs20233004

This Landsat 8 image of a portion of the Central Coast of California (WRS2 Path 43 Row 35) was acquired on January 31, 2023. Bands 6,5,4 

This graphic shows additional tiles available for Collection 2 U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) when compared to Collection 1 U.S. ARD for the same period (1982-2021).

This natural color Landsat 8 image of the Sacramento Valley area shows the impacts of the relentless rains that impacted the area during the end of December and into the New Year. Turbid river water, saturated fields, and rising reservoirs can be seen near Stockton and Sacramento.

In the right wintry conditions, an ice bridge forms between the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait. Theoretically, this is the only place where you can walk from Russia to the United States (and vice versa), however travel between one Diomede to the other is strictly forbidden.  

Nine consecutive rainstorms have poured on California since December 26, 2022, after three years of intensive drought.

This graphic displays the millions of Landsat Level-1 downloads, from 2008 to December 2022.

View more statistics on the Landsat Project Statistics page. 

Last year was monumental for the program, including celebrating its 50-year anniversary, transitioning a fully operational Landsat 9 to the USGS team, and extending the Landsat 7 science mission. In addition to these major events, we have included an interactive map showcasing events Landsat satellites captured this year from around the world.

This illustration shows the spectral bands of the sensors onboard Landsat 8 and Landsat 9, compared to those of Landsat Next. 

Landsat Next will be "super-spectral" adding 15 new bands to support emerging user applications—for a total of 26 spectral bands.

Image credit: NASA Landsat Communication and Public Engagement Team

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 products. 

Alaska has 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the United States. Denali is the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet above sea level. Denali, the native name for the mountain, means “The Great One.”

Capital Juneau

Image Source Landsat 8

Population 733,391

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, is only 100 miles long by 35 miles wide—about 2 ½ times as big as Rhode Island. Even though it is a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico has its own Olympic team. The largest islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands are St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John.