USGS Earth Explorer
Creators:
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Publication Date:
1972
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Dataset Description:
USGS Earth Explorer is a powerful search platform that provides free access to satellite imagery, aerial photography, and remote sensing data. With its extensive archive, the Earth Explorer offers data from various satellites like Landsat, Sentinel, and ASTER. The platform's extensive archive encompasses data from multiple satellite missions, with each mission contributing a significant volume of data. For instance, Landsat 9 alone collects up to 750 scenes per day, and together with Landsat 8, they add nearly 1,500 new scenes daily to the USGS archive. Given that each Landsat scene is approximately 1 GB in size, the daily data addition from these two satellites alone can be estimated at around 1.5 TB. The number of observations within Earth Explorer is continually increasing as satellites like Landsat 8 and 9 are operational and consistently capturing data. Landsat 9, for example, collects as many as 750 scenes per day, and together with Landsat 8, they add nearly 1,500 new scenes daily to the USGS archive. The temporal coverage of datasets accessible via Earth Explorer varies depending on the specific mission or dataset. For instance, the Landsat program offers a historical archive dating back to 1972, providing over five decades of Earth observation data. Structurally, Earth Explorer organizes its datasets based on the source and type of data. For example, Landsat data is categorized by satellite and processing level, including Level-1 and Level-2 products, with varying spatial resolutions. Similarly, other datasets are organized according to their respective missions and data characteristics, allowing users to efficiently locate and utilize the data relevant to their specific needs.
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