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The Earth Resources Observation Satellite Program of the Geological Survey and NASA will enable earth-bound scientists to learn more about natural resources-particularly about ground water resources.
The Landsat 8 satellite was launched on February 11, 2013, to systematically collect multispectral images for detection and quantitative analysis of changes on the Earth’s surface. The collected data are stored at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and continue the longest archive of medium resolution Earth images. There are two imaging instruments onboard the satellite: the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS). This paper summarizes radiometric performance of the OLI including the bias stability, the system noise, saturation and other artifacts observed in its data during the first 1.5 years on orbit. Detector noise levels remain low and Signal-To-Noise Ratio high, largely exceeding the requirements. Impulse noise and saturation are present in imagery, but have negligible effect on Landsat 8 products. Oversaturation happens occasionally, but the affected detectors quickly restore their nominal responsivity. Overall, the OLI performs very well on orbit and provides high quality products to the user community. © (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Data System Program worked together to establish, develop, and operate the Land Processes (LP) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) to provide stewardship for NASA’s land processes science data. These data are critical science assets that serve the land processes science community with potential value beyond any immediate research use, and therefore need to be accounted for and properly managed throughout their lifecycle. A fundamental LP DAAC objective is to enable permanent preservation of these data and information products. The LP DAAC accomplishes this by bridging data producers and permanent archival resources while providing intermediate archive services for data and information products.
The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) data archive at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center is a comprehensive and impartial record of the Earth's changing land surface. USGS/EROS has been archiving and preserving land remote sensing data for over 35 years. This remote sensing archive continues to grow as aircraft and satellites acquire more imagery. As a world leader in preserving data, USGS/EROS has a reputation as a technological innovator in solving challenges and ensuring that access to these collections is available. Other agencies also call on the USGS to consider their collections for long-term archive support. To improve access to the USGS film archive, each frame on every roll of film is being digitized by automated high performance digital camera systems. The system robotically captures a digital image from each film frame for the creation of browse and medium resolution image files. Single frame metadata records are also created to improve access that otherwise involves interpreting flight indexes. USGS/EROS is responsible for over 8.6 million frames of aerial photographs and 27.7 million satellite images.
The mission of the U. S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center is to produce high-quality photographs of the earth taken from aircraft and Landsat satellite. In order to meet the criteria of producing research-quality photographs, while at the same time meeting strict environmental restrictions, a total photographic chemical management system was installed. This involved a three-part operation consisting of the design of a modern chemical analysis laboratory, the implementation of a chemical regeneration system, and the installation of a waste treatment system, including in-plant pretreatment and outside secondary waste treatment. Over the last ten years the result of this program has yielded high-quality photographs while saving approximately 30,000 per year and meeting all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions.
Horizontal seismic data are dominated by atmospherically induced tilt noise at long periods (i.e., 30 s and greater). Tilt noise limits our ability to use horizontal data for sensitive seismological studies such as observing free earth modes. To better understand the local spatial variability of long‐period horizontal noise, we observe horizontal noise during quiet time periods in the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL) underground vault using four small‐aperture array configurations. Each array comprises eight Streckeisen STS‐2 broadband seismometers. We analyze the spectral content of the data using power spectral density and magnitude‐squared coherence (γ2‐coherence). Our results show a high degree of spatial variability and frequency dependence in the long‐period horizontal wavefield. The variable nature of long‐period horizontal noise in the ASL vault suggests that it might be highly local in nature and not easily characterized by simple physical models when overall noise levels are low, making it difficult to identify locations in the vault with lower horizontal noise. This variability could be limiting our ability to apply coherence analysis for estimating horizontal sensor self‐noise and could also complicate various indirect methods for removing long‐period horizontal noise (e.g., collocated rotational sensor or microbarograph).
The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is a broad-band scanner with four to six bands, depending on the model. The AVHRR senses in the visible, near-, middle-, and thermal- infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This sensor is carried on a series of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES), beginning with the Television InfraRed Observation Satellite (TIROS-N) in 1978. Since 1989, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) has been mapping the vegetation condition of the United States and Alaska using satellite information from the AVHRR sensor. The vegetation condition composites, more commonly called greenness maps, are produced every week using the latest information on the growth and condition of the vegetation. One of the most important aspects of USGS greenness mapping is the historical archive of information dating back to 1989. This historical stretch of information has allowed the USGS to determine a 'normal' vegetation condition. As a result, it is possible to compare the current week's vegetation condition with normal vegetation conditions. An above normal condition could indicate wetter or warmer than normal conditions, while a below normal condition could indicate colder or dryer than normal conditions. The interpretation of departure from normal will depend on the season and geography of a region.
The Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center is responsible for processing, archiving, reproducing, and distributing satellite and aircraft remotely-sensed Earth imagery data in both film and digital format. Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) and Return Beam Vidicon (RBV) sensor data alone represents a daily recording requirement of 23 billion pixels on 1000 feet of film. New satellites and sensors may double this amount of data within two years. To handle these requirements, the EROS Data Center installed an operational, multi-mode, programmable, high throughput, high resolution laser-beam film recording system directly on-line to the primary digital image processing computer. This system employs an Argon-Ion laser light source, electro-optic modulator, and rotating mirror to expose film in a flat-field line-scanned format at rates up to 400 lines per second. Laboratory-type requirements, such as a geometric fidelity of ± 0.05% and density repeatability within ± 0.05D, are maintained in a high-throughput production environment. To provide for future sensor formats, the scan rate, scanning spot size, film velocity, laser power, and number of overscans are firmware programmable for up to 16 on-line, auto-matically selectable configurations.
The EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is operated for the Earth Resources Observation Systems Program of the Department of the Interior by the Topographic Division of the Geological Survey to provide access to Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) imagery, USGS aerial photography, and NASA aircraft data for the general public, domestic government agencies at all levels, and foreign government agencies at all levels, and foreign governments. Facilities are available for data storage, retrieval, reproduction, and dissemination, and for user assistance and training.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) maintains a wide variety of remotely sensed data collections that contain a wealth of information about the Earth’s land surfaces. Acquired by special sensors carried aboard civilian satellites and aircraft, the images and other data in these collections provide a unique perspective of the terrestrial environment. They represent invaluable resources for scientists, resource managers, policy makers, and educators to use in studying such things as natural hazards, conservation issues, land use and economic development, and environmental change at local, regional, and global levels. Different types of sensors record different types of information, resulting in diverse data products, each with its own particular strengths. Highlighted here are eight remotely sensed data collections that are currently available from EROS.
In this chapter, the use of satellite remote sensing to monitor active geological processes is described. Specifically, threats posed by volcanic eruptions are briefly outlined, and essential monitoring requirements are discussed. As an application example, a collaborative, multi-agency operational volcano monitoring system in the north Pacific is highlighted with a focus on the 2007 eruption of Kliuchevskoi volcano, Russia. The data from this system have been used since 2004 to detect the onset of volcanic activity, support the emergency response to large eruptions, and assess the volcanic products produced following the eruption. The overall utility of such integrative assessments is also summarized. The work described in this chapter was originally funded through two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth System Science research grants that focused on the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument. A skilled team of volcanologists, geologists, satellite tasking experts, satellite ground system experts, system engineers and software developers collaborated to accomplish the objectives. The first project, Automation of the ASTER Emergency Data Acquisition Protocol for Scientific Analysis, Disaster Monitoring, and Preparedness , established the original collaborative research and monitoring program between the University of Pittsburgh (UP), the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, and affiliates on the ASTER Science Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as well as associates at the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) in Japan. This grant, completed in 2008, also allowed for detailed volcanic analyses and data validation during three separate summer field campaigns to Kamchatka Russia. The second project, Expansion and synergistic use of the ASTER Urgent Request Protocol (URP) for natural disaster monitoring and scientific analysis , has expanded the project to other volcanoes around the world and is in progress through 2011. The focus on ASTER data is due to the suitability of the sensor for natural disaster monitoring and the availability of data. The instrument has several unique facets that make it especially attractive for volcanic observations (Ramsey and Dehn, 2004). Specifically, ASTER routinely collects data at night, it has the ability to generate digital elevation models using stereo imaging, it can collect data in various gain states to minimize data saturation, it has a cross-track pointing capability for faster targeting, and it collects data up to ±85° latitude for better global coverage. As with any optical imaging-based remote sensing, the viewing conditions can negatively impact the data quality. This impact varies across the optical and thermal infrared wavelengths as well as being a function of the specific atmospheric window within a given wavelength region. Water vapor and cloud formation can obscure surface data in the visible and near infrared (VNIR)/shortwave infrared (SWIR) region due mainly to non-selective scattering of the incident photons. In the longer wavelengths of the thermal infrared (TIR), scattering is less of an issue, but heavy cloud cover can still obscure the ground due to atmospheric absorption. Thin clouds can be optically-transparent in the VNIR and TIR regions, but can cause errors in the extracted surface reflectance or derived surface temperatures. In regions prone to heavy cloud cover, optical remote sensing can be improved through increased temporal resolution. As more images are acquired in a given time period the chances of a clear image improve dramatically. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) routine monitoring, which commonly collects 4-6 images per day of any north Pacific volcano, takes advantage of this fact. The rapid response program described in this chapter also improves the temporal resolution of the ASTER instrument. ASTER has been acquiring images of volcanic eruptions since soon after its launch in December 1999. An early example included the observations of the large pyroclastic flow deposit emplaced at Bezymianny volcano in Kamchatka, Russia. The first images in March 2000, just weeks after the eruption, revealed the extent, composition, and cooling history of this large deposit and of the active lava dome (Ramsey and Dehn, 2004). The initial results from these early datasets spurred interest in using ASTER data for expanded volcano monitoring in the north Pacific. It also gave rise to the multi-year NASA-funded programs of rapid response scheduling and imaging throughout the Aleutian, Kamchatka and Kurile arcs. Since the formal establishment of the programs, the data have provided detailed descriptions of the eruptions of Augustine, Bezymianny, Kliuchevskoi and Sheveluch volcanoes over the past nine years (Wessels et al., in press; Carter et al., 2007, 2008; Ramsey et al., 2008; Rose and Ramsey, 2009). The initial research focus of this rapid response program was specifically on automating the ASTER sensor’s ability for targeted observational scheduling using the expedited data system. This urgent request protocol is one of the unique characteristics of ASTER. It provides a limited number of emergency observations, typically at a much-improved temporal resolution and quicker turnaround with data processing in the United States rather than in Japan. This can speed the reception of the processed data by several days to a week. The ongoing multi-agency research and operational collaboration has been highly successful. AVO serves as the primary source for status information on volcanic activity, working closely with the National Weather Service (NWS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), military and other state and federal emergency services. Collaboration with the Russian Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (IVS)/Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) is also maintained. Once a volcano is identified as having increased thermal output, ASTER is automatically tasked and the volcano is targeted at the next available opportunity. After the data are acquired, scientists at all the agencies have access to the images, with the primary science analysis carried out at the University of Pittsburgh and AVO. Results are disseminated to the responsible monitoring agencies and the global community through e-mail mailing lists.
Within the technology of the space age lies a key to increased knowledge about the resources and environment of the Earth. This key is remote sensing detecting the nature of an object without actually touching it. Although the photographic camera is the most familiar remote-sensing device, other instrument systems, such as scanning radiometers and radar, also can produce photographs and images. On the basis of the potential of this technology, and in response to the critical need for greater knowledge of the Earth and its resources, the Department of the Interior established the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Program to gather and use remotely sensed data collected by satellite and aircraft of natural and manmade features on the Earth's surface.
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is planning to launch the Landsat 8 satellite in December 2012, which continues an uninterrupted record of consistently calibrated globally acquired multispectral images of the Earth started in 1972. The satellite will carry two imaging sensors: the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The OLI will provide visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared data in nine spectral bands while the TIRS will acquire thermal infrared data in two bands. Both sensors have a pushbroom design and consequently, each has a large number of detectors to be characterized. Image and calibration data downlinked from the satellite will be processed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center using the Landsat 8 Image Assessment System (IAS), a component of the Ground System. In addition to extracting statistics from all Earth images acquired, the IAS will process and trend results from analysis of special calibration acquisitions, such as solar diffuser, lunar, shutter, night, lamp and blackbody data, and preselected calibration sites. The trended data will be systematically processed and analyzed, and calibration and characterization parameters will be updated using both automatic and customized manual tools. This paper describes the analysis tools and the system developed to monitor and characterize on-orbit performance and calibrate the Landsat 8 sensors and image data products.
The National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA) resides at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Through the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. Congress directed the Department of the Interior (DOI) to establish a permanent Government archive containing satellite remote sensing data of the Earth's land surface and to make this data easily accessible and readily available. This unique DOI/USGS archive provides a comprehensive, permanent, and impartial observational record of the planet's land surface obtained throughout more than five decades of satellite remote sensing. Satellite-derived data and information products are primary sources used to detect and understand changes such as deforestation, desertification, agricultural crop vigor, water quality, invasive plant species, and certain natural hazards such as flood extent and wildfire scars.
Faults often form through reactivation of pre-existing structures, developing geometries and mechanical properties specific to the system’s geologic inheritance. Competition between fault geometry and other factors (e.g., lithology) to control slip at Earth’s surface is an open question that is central to our knowledge of fault processes and seismic hazards. Here we use remote sensing data and field observations to investigate the origin of the 2019 M 7.1 Ridgecrest, California, earthquake rupture geometry and test its impact on the slip distribution observed at Earth’s surface. Common geometries suggest the fault system evolved through reactivation of structures within the surrounding Independence dike swarm (IDS). Mechanical models testing a range of fault geometries and stress fields indicate that the inherited rupture geometry strongly controlled the M 7.1 earthquake slip distribution. These results motivate revisiting the development of other large-magnitude earthquake ruptures (1992 M 7.3 Landers, 1999 M 7.1 Hector Mine) and tectonic provinces within the IDS.
The earth resources observation satellite (EROS) program in the Department of the Interior is intended to gather and use data from satellites and aircraft on natural and man-made features of the earth's surface. Earth resources technology satellite will provide the EROS program with data for use in dealing with natural resource problems and understanding the interaction between man and the environment. Applications will include studies of tectonic features, hydrologic problems, location of fish schools, determination of the conditions of range land, mapping land use for urban planning, studies of erosion and change along coastlines and major streams, and inventories of land use and land forms. In addition, the ERTS data may be used for detecting forest and crop diseases and inventorying crops. The ERTS satellite will be in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit so that each point on the earth's surface will be sensed every 17 to 20 days, at the same time of day. Multispectral photography is being investigated for its usefulness in hydrology. Side-looking airborne radar has not yet been widely used in hydrologic studies, although it is an excellent tool for all-weather, day or night, coverage of large areas. Other techniques being investigated include passive microwave radiometry, ultraviolet and visible stimulated luminescence, and absorption spectroscopy.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Remote Sensing Data Archive, located at the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, maintains the Landsat orthorectified data archive. Within the archive are Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data that have been pansharpened and orthorectified by the Earth Satellite Corporation. This imagery has acquisition dates ranging from 1999 to 2001 and was created to provide users with access to quality-screened, high-resolution satellite images with global coverage over the Earth's landmasses.
The EROS Data Center is a part of the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Program of the Department of the Interior, managed by the U.S. Geological Survey. It is the national center for the processing anddissemination of spacecraft and aircraft acquired photographic imagery and electronic data of the Earth's resources. The center also trains and assists users in the application of such data. The EROS Data Center provides access to Landsat data, aerial photography acquired by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and photography and other remotely sensed data acquired by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from research aircraft and from Skylab, Apollo, and Gemini spacecraft.