June 2024

June 13, 2024

NASA Selects Raytheon Company to Build Landsat Next Instruments

NASA announced in a contract release that Raytheon Company will build the series of Landsat Next instruments.

Landsat Next banner image. The words "Landsat Next" are on a black background above Earth.

Screenshot of the STREAM interface showing Chlorophyll-a pigment (mg/m3) concentrations in the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River obtained from Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) measurements on August 18, 2023. The image captures a broad range of pigment concentrations from 2 to 3 mg/m3 in the main stem of the bay (blue and green colors) to > 14 mg/m3 upstream of the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers (indicated in red). Too much or too little pigments in the water column will entail public health, ecosystem, and economic implications. Credit: STREAM Team.

June 27, 2024

New Tool Provides Rapid Evaluation of Water Quality

A combination of Landsat and Sentinel-2 imagery, NASA near real-time data, and machine learning provides near real-time access to high-resolution water quality maps.

Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon. Photo credit: NASA

June 14, 2024

Remembering Bill Anders

Anders, 90, the astronaut who captured the iconic Earthrise photograph, died on June 7, 2024, when the plane he was piloting crashed into the San Juan Channel.

[3:59 PM] Rocchio, Laura E P (GSFC-618.0)[SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS INC] The Landsat 1 MSS engineering model on the back of its road trip transport truck in May 1972. A Hughes technician stands to the right wearing a maroon shirt and grey jacket. He holds a control box in his right hand. Photo credit: Hughes / NASA

June 11, 2024

MSS You! Photos from a 1972 Roadtrip

Two months before the launch of Landsat 1, the engineering model of the satellite’s multispectral scanner system went on a California road trip.

"We'll then often use imagery when available from Landsat or Sentinel-2, whose higher spatial resolution gives us a better chance of seeing smoke. If we see smoke on the imagery at the same location, then it's a pretty sure bet it’s an active fire."

—Gordon Seymour, GIS & Wildfire Data Technician; Canada's Dept. of Environment and Climate Change

June 11, 2024

NASA FIRMS Plays a Significant Role in Northwest Territories Fire Detection; NASA Earthdata

PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHT

A Shift in Transitional Forests of the North American Boreal Will Persist Through 2100

| Montesano et al., 2024

New research reveals a persistent biome shift of North America's boreal forests towards northern transitional landscapes (specifically, the taiga-tundra ecotone) through the end of the century. Using ICESat-2 lidar-based vegetation height measurements together with 36 years of Landsat-based tree canopy cover, researchers evaluated boreal forest structure trends in North America and compared those to projected forest height changes based on four different bioclimatic scenarios. Under all scenarios, an increased presence of trees and shrubs is predicted in northern regions where boreal forest currently transitions into open tundra.

map of North American boreal or taiga to tundra transitions The lowest areas in southern and middle Canada are dark green representing boreal forest Then coral yellow plum and blue indicated different taiga to tundra transition types

A map of forest gradient classes in North America’s boreal (taiga) and tundra regions. The classes, identified using Landsat-derived tree canopy cover for over 16,000 hydrobasins, were used to examine predicted changes in forest height. Image credit: Montesano et al., 2024.

Co author Matt Macander takes a measurements of a tree in the Andreafsky Hills

Co-author Matt Macander takes a measurement in Alaska's Andreafsky Hills in August 2023. This research was conducted as part of the NASA ABoVE program. Image credit: co-author J.J. Frost

Find more selected Landsat publications on our website.

NASA Earth Observatory

Selected Landsat Images

June 19, 2024

Tracking Forest Cover in Belize

Decades of Landsat data paint a picture of how forests in this Central American country are changing.

A visualization created using Landsat data to show forest loss between 2000 and 2023 in Belize and Mexico. White text in the image pinpoints Mexico, Neuland, a shipyard, Blue Creek, the New River, and Belize.

June 17, 2024

Turbulent Beauty Along the Kimberley Coast

Tidal currents stir up colorful swirls off the coast of Western Australia.

Natural-color Landsat 8 image of blue-green sediment swirls in the Indian Ocean, acquired on April 22, 2024. The rocky islands appear as shades of brown and green and water appears turquoise. In the image, white text highlights Jackson Island, Augustus Island, and Uwins Island. Turquoise text highlights the Indian Ocean.

June 10, 2024

Drought Parches Mexico

Dry weather is putting extra strain on the systems that deliver water to Mexico City.

A natural-color image of the Valle de Bravo Reservoir in Mexico. Text in this image highlights the reservoir as well as the town of Valle de Bravo. This image was acquired by Landsat 9 on May 17, 2024. In the image, the reservoir appears light green with areas of dark green, vegetation appears dark green, and bare earth appears as varying shades of brown.

June 7, 2024

Humboldt Glacier's Demise

Venezuela is the first postglacial nation in the Andes, as its last substantial patch of ice is now considered too small to flow under its own weight.

Natural-color Landsat 9 image acquired on May 14, 2024. Text in the image highlights the ice field and both Picos. In the image, bare earth appears brown, vegetation appears green, and the ice field and glacier appear white.

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