Landsat Archives - Geography Realm

A simple map of the world showing average lake evaporation rate around the world with a shading scale from blue and green for low evaporation and orange and red for high rates of evaporation.

The Global Evaporation of Lakes

July 22, 2022 by Mark Altaweel

Using satellite imagery and modeling, new research highlights evaporation volume across natural and artificial lakes in more than 1.42 million lakes.

Natural color Landsat scene showing a brown landscape covered by small clouds that dot the landscape.

Landsat: Longest Running Earth Imagery Program

March 4, 2023July 21, 2022 by Caitlin Dempsey

With satellites in orbit since 1972, the Landsat program is the longest running Earth observation program.

An agriculture field in California. Photo: U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain

Geospatial Technology and Challenges of Contemporary Agriculture

October 10, 2021December 6, 2020 by Mark Altaweel

Farmers have greater access to geospatial tools that can help mitigate some agricultural challenges.

Three moments in a tumultuous year for farming north of St. Louis, MO, as seen in NASA-USGS Landsat 8 data. On the left is May 7, 2019, as heavy rains delayed planting for many farms. Sept 12, 2019, in the middle, shows bright green signifying growing vegetation, although with a fair amount of brown, bare fields. On the right, Oct. 14, 2019, the light brown indicates harvested fields while darker brown are fields that have not been seeded or fallow all summer. Credits: NASA

Monitoring Crop Production Via Satellite

December 6, 2020December 28, 2019 by Elizabeth Borneman

To cope with ever-changing agricultural needs and conditions, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (or NASS) uses data from Landsat to monitor crops in the contiguous United States.

Landsat Island captured by Landsat 8 in 2014. Image: NASA.

How This Remote Island Inhabited by Polar Bears Became Known as Landsat Island

July 21, 2022March 28, 2017 by Elizabeth Borneman

Discovered in 1976 in imagery captured by Landsat 1, Landsat Island (60° 10′ 37″N, 64° 02′ 30″W) is solely populated by polar bears.