Images

The end of Kaskawulsh Glacier lies at a drainage divide. Before spring 2016, the majority of the glacier's meltwater flowed north by way of the Slims River into Kluane Lake, and from there into the Yukon River and to the Bering Sea.

Heavy rains that began falling during Memorial Day weekend in late May 2016 pushed the Brazos River, 30 miles southwest of Houston, Texas, toward a near-record flooding stage that hasn’t been seen since 1913, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The 122nd Boston Marathon, the oldest annual marathon in the world, takes place on April 16, 2018. This Landsat 8 image shows the April landscape of eastern Massachusetts, before vegetation has greened up. The yellow line indicates the point-to-point route that the marathon follows.

Earth Science reminds us that the study of Earth and its biological processes can occur anywhere—whether we realize it or not.

This false-color Landsat 8 image shows valleys and snow-covered mountain ranges in southeastern Tibet. It was captured on August 4, 2014.

Landsat 7 image from Path 38 Row 35 near Peach Springs, Arizona. The image is shown as a false color composite using the shortwave infrared, near infrared, and red bands (Bands 5|4|3).

The roughly west-east trail of destruction from the April 27, 2011, Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado is clearly visible in these Landsat images. This was one of 358 recorded tornadoes during the April 25-28, 2011, tornado outbreak, the most severe in U.S. history.

Example of the Landsat 4-5 TM Collection 2 level-1 product. This Landsat 5 image was acquired on October 6, 2010 near Seattle, Washington and is shown as a natural color composite using the red, green, and blue bands (bands 3,2,1).

Example of the Landsat 7 ETM+ Collection 2 level-1 product. This Landsat 7 image was acquired on January 1, 2003 near Ciudad Obregón, Mexico and is shown as a natural color composite using the red, green, and blue bands (bands 3,2,1).

This pan sharpened color infrared image of Sioux Falls, South Dakota is from the first scene acquired by Landsat 7's Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor on April 18, 1999. The image is shown using the near infrared, red, and green bands (Bands 4,3,2).

Natural color Landsat 5 image of the Great Salt Lake acquired on July 1, 1986. In 1986, the lake was at a record high and covered approximately 2,300 square miles and contained 30 million acre-feet of water (an acre-foot is the amount of water necessary to cover 1 acre of land with water 1 foot in depth or about 326,000 gallons).

One of the first Landsat 5 images in the archive shows Corpus Christi and Padre Island National Seashore. The image was acquired on March 6, 1984 and is shown as a false color composite using the near infrared, red, and green bands (bands 4,3,2).

Learn more about the mission on the Landsat 5 web page

On March 6, 1984, the Thematic Mapper (TM) on Landsat 5 captured this image of Corpus Christi. Texas. Located in South Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, the city and its bay are protected by barrier islands.

One of the first clear Landsat 5 images shows an icy Lake Superior, northern Minnesota, and the Wisconsin's Apostle Islands. The Thematic Mapper (TM) image is shown as a false color composite using the near infrared, red and green bands (bands 4,3,2) and was acquired on March 6, 1984, just 5 days after the launch.

Landsat 4's first light image captured eastern Lake Erie, and the cities of Toledo, Detroit, and Windsor on July 25, 1982. Although the Landsat program had been collecting images of the Earth since 1972, this was the first time that the data could be depicted as a natural color image due to the new Thematic Mapper sensor onboard Landsat 4.

The first Landsat 4 image was acquired over western Lake Erie on July 25, 1982, just 9 days after launch. This image shows the Detroit River dividing the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario while acting as a strait between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair.

Landsat 3’s first image features a slice of Northern California on March 7, 1978. 

One of Landsat 3’s first images, captured by the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) 4 days after launch, features a slice of Northern California on March 7, 1978. San Jose sits in Santa Clara Valley touching the southernmost portion of San Francisco. This image showcases the urbanization of the valley, which exploded in the 1970s as Silicon Valley grew.

Example of the Landsat 1-5 MSS Collection 2 level-1 product. This Landsat 1 image was acquired on June 26, 1974 near Fallon, Nevada and is shown as a false color composite using the near-infrared, red, and green bands (bands 3,2,1).

Within days of the launch, Landsat 1 acquired an image of an astounding 81,000-acre (327.8 square kilometers) fire burning in isolated, central Alaska. For the first time ever, scientists and resource management officials were able to see the full extent of damage from a fire in a single image while it was still burning.

Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, slid into Landsat 1's view on July 25, 1972. In this false-color image, shades of red indicate vegetated land and grays and whites are urban or rocky surfaces. The composite image is shown using the near-infrared, red and green bands (bands 7, 5, 4) at a 60 meter resolution.