May 2024

Landsat Science News

May 30, 2024

Landsat Observations Key Resource for Many Federal Agencies

In the FY23 Aeronautics and Space Report released on May 23, a multitude of Federal agencies report work informed by Landsat data.

A Landsat 9 night image of the 2023 Maui fires.

A Utah cow grazes at pasture. Photo credit: Amy Spielmaker, Pixabay

May 24, 2024

Antarctic Ice Shelf Spawns Iceberg A-83 Source: Kathryn Hansen, NASA’s Earth Observatory

The Brunt Ice Shelf lost a large wedge of floating ice, the third sizeable iceberg to calve from the shelf in recent years. The TIRS instrument on Landsat 9 captured false-color images of the calving.

May 20, 2024

Spotted by Satellite: Situational Awareness in Fiery Times

The Australian company Indji Systems uses a variety of satellite data to provide real-time hazard monitoring and alerts to utility and renewable energy companies across Australia, North American, and Europe.

"Landsat Next to me is an incredible mission… I really think of it as a game changer. The measurements provided to the community not only provide continuity with our current 52-year plus archive, but also drive new and emerging applications and science research. It’s very important to the American people and of course to science.”

— Brian Sauer, USGS Landsat Next Project Manager May 6, 2024

Preparing for Landsat Next, Part 2; USGS Eyes on Earth Podcast

Reaching Out

Michael Taylor stands behind a table of Landsat materials while having a conversation with a Satellites to Seeds attendee in Washington, D.C.

May 31, 2024

Satellites to Seeds: NASA Agriculture Day on the Hill

The Landsat Communications and Public Engagement team supported the Satellites to Seeds event on the Hill in Washington, D.C.

Michael Taylor demonstrates the near-infrared (NIR) goggles as well as the STELLA DIY spectrometer at Odyssey of the Mind. Taylor stands in front of a tree with a participant using the goggles.

May 31, 2024

Landsat at Odyssey of the Mind

From May 21-25, the Landsat Outreach team supported Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHT

Mapping Vegetation Height and Identifying the Northern Forest Limit Across Canada Using ICESat-2, Landsat Time Series and Topographic Data

| Travers-Smith et al., 2024

A map of vegetation structure for the Canadian forest-tundra ecotone (120 million hectares) has been created using a combination of Landsat and ICESat-2 data; the work was validated with NASA’s airborne Lidar Vegetation and Ice Sensor (LVIS). From these new maps, an updated delineation of Canada’s northern forest limit has been made. The methodology used in this study relies on freely available satellite data making it “cost effective, quantitative, repeatable and scalable over large areas.” The results can inform carbon storage metrics for the circumpolar region.

Map of northern Canada's tree canopy that is at least 3 meters tall. A thick black lines shows the northern extent of Canada's continuous forest.

A map of northern Canada's tree canopy (above 3 meters tall). The thick black line shows the northern extent of Canada's continuous forest found by Travers-Smith et al., 2024. The orange lines shows an earlier tree limit mapped by Timoney et al., 1992.

Find more selected Landsat publications on our website.