Effective August 25, 2008 the National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) medium digitized images are available for download at no charge from the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. NAPP images can be previewed and downloaded using the USGS EarthExplorer Web site at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov or the GloVis Web site at http://glovis.usgs.gov/.
High Resolution Scanned images will continue to be available for a nominal charge.
For more information on NAPP, please visit http://eros.usgs.gov/products/aerial/napp.php.
As of June 30, 2008, the National High Altitude Photography (NHAP) and Alaska High Altitude Photography (AHAP) medium resolution digitized images will be available for download at no charge from the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. NHAP and AHAP scenes can be previewed and downloaded using the USGS EarthExplorer Web site at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov, and NHAP scenes are available on the Glovis Web site at http://glovis.usgs.gov/.
For more information on NHAP, please visit http://eros.usgs.gov/products/aerial/nhap.html.
After a review of the USGS EROS Center’s accounting processes, the following change will be implemented effective June 1, 2008:
Purchase Orders from a Private or Public Entity, Foreign Country, or International Organization will no longer be accepted. Product orders will only be processed when payment has been received. Credit card orders are preferred because they can be activated immediately. For a listing of other modes of payment, please visit our Payment Options Web site at http://eros.usgs.gov/about/customer/modes.html
If you are a U.S. Federal agency, State or Municipality, Territory, Possession, or Political Subdivision (including public colleges funded by state government funds), then we will continue to accept your signed Purchase Orders.
If you have any questions about the status of your account or a specific order, please contact a Customer Services Representative.
Customer Services U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 47914 252nd Street Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001 TDD: 605-594-6933 Fax: 605-594-6589 Email: custserv@usgs.gov Business Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Central Time
As of May 1, 2008, the USGS will no longer offer CD as an output media option for Long Term Archive (LTA) products. A complete list of the products affected, along with the media offered for FTP, DVD, or No Charge Download, follows:
Effective April 30, 2008, the USGS will no longer provide archive research assistance for the EROS Center archives. Users may perform online archive research through two USGS archive access systems: EarthExplorer (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) and GloVis (http://glovis.usgs.gov/). Users requiring research and ordering support assistance are directed to a list of companies found at http://gisdata.usgs.gov/commercial_vendors/.
Over the past year both of the archive access systems have been extensively updated to be more user friendly, include more data, improve the ability to access our holdings, and provide a greater level of service. Planning is underway to develop additional features that should provide a less restrictive “self service” capability for USGS users to have access to earth science data.
The earth imaging satellite Landsat 5 is once again collecting and downlinking land-image data. The satellite was temporarily taken out of service in October 2007 following a cell failure within one of the satellite's two operating on-board batteries.
USGS Flight Operations Team engineers were forced to discover ways to balance the energy demand of Landsat 5's operational and imaging instrumentation with the satellite's slightly diminished energy storage capacity. The Team's solution was to reconfigure and align Landsat 5's image acquisition schedule and to rely more on direct power from its solar array. Additionally, schedule changes were made to limit imaging during the winter months and to resume all routine imaging over the continental U.S. from March through September. Some concessions will also be made to limit imaging over international sites.
Restoration of Landsat 5's image data collection and data transfer capability is considered essential by many federal, state and local government and civilian land and resource agency managers in managing response to wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and other disasters. Since its launch on March 1, 1984, Landsat 5 has provided more than 600,000 individual images, recording clear-cutting and recovery conditions of rain forests, near- and long-term effects of the Chernobyl explosion, before-and-after records of Hurricane Katrina's impact, as well as more subtle natural and human-induced changes to the global land surface. In addition to these emergency and management applications of Landsat imagery, millions of people each day use web based mapping products supported by this and other imagery data to get where they want to go.
While the design life of Landsat 5 was only 3 years, this remarkable satellite is likely to produce imagery for a few more years. Landsat 7, launched in 1999, continues to provide the global science community with worldwide seasonal images, however, it too is operating in a slightly diminished capacity.
In an effort to ensure the continuation and improvement of global and National land imaging products and services to its users beyond the life of Landsat 5 and Landsat 7, the President recently announced a new budget initiative to create the National Land Imaging Program (NLIP) in the Department of the Interior.
NLIP planning is underway and will be designed to ensure the continuing operational and research needs for moderate resolution and multispectral land imaging products and services are met and provided to federal and civilian users.
NLIP will be responsible for the deployment and operation of future U.S.-owned, civil operational land imaging satellites and ground system assets and will be directed to facilitate the development and promotion of future land imaging technologies, applications and services to support the growing number of users.
Real-time and recent U.S. images collected by Landsats 5 and 7 are available for viewing on the USGS EarthNow! website, and archive images from both satellites can be previewed and ordered at EarthExplorer or at the USGS Global Visualization Viewer.
USGS press release: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1881
The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center is pleased to announce the release of the Global Land Survey 2000 (GLS 2000) dataset January 25th, 2008 and the Global Land Survey 2005 (GLS 2005) dataset February 4th, 2008.
The GLS 2000 is an updated version of the Tri-Decadal Global Landsat Orthorectified Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus.
The average acquisition date for the GLS 2005 is 2005 (+/- 3 years). All scenes were acquired between 2004 and 2007. The GLS 2000 data was used to correct this dataset. GLS 2005 will continue to grow as we complete this collection.
A media option is not planned for these data. Access and no-charge downloads are available through EarthExplorer (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) and GloVis (http://glovis.usgs.gov). Additional information on this new dataset is found on the Tri-Decadal Global Landsat Orthorectified (http://eros.usgs.gov/products/satellite/landsat_ortho.html) Web page.
The USGS is pleased to announce that Landsat 5 tested imaging with the Thematic Mapper on January 10, 2008 during a pass over Brazil and Argentina.
Landsat 5 imaging was suspended on October 6, 2007 due to a loss of a cell within one of two batteries. The Landsat Flight Operations Team has determined the status of the power system and potential solutions for maximum imaging operations. We are still in a testing phase, as the new battery configuration is being characterized. Experts in Thematic Mapper data have determined that the sensor is operating normally. We expect to return to a new operational state in upcoming weeks.
As of November 28, 2007, Landsat 5 remains stable. However, Thematic Mapper imaging is still suspended. Battery #2 has been brought back online for characterization and testing, which is expected to take several weeks. The Flight Operations Team will recommend options for continued operations at that time. Further updates will continue to be posted as information becomes available.
Landsat 5 has been collecting data continuously since it was launched in March 1984. The satellite has had a series of anomalies and has lost redundancy in onboard systems, but it continues to collect high-quality data.
Early Saturday, October 6, 2007, the Landsat 5 Flight Operations Team (FOT) noted that battery #2 was automatically taken off-line the previous evening. To conserve power, all imaging was stopped. Landsat 5 has three 22-cell nickel cadmium batteries. During the nonsunlit part of each orbit, the batteries provide power to sustain the satellite’s electrical needs. During the sunlit period of the orbit, the solar array recharges the batteries and meets the electrical demands of the satellite. Previously, on May 21, 2004, Landsat 5’s battery #1 was taken off-line following an anomaly. With the loss of battery #2, Landsat 5’s remaining battery might have sufficient capacity to maintain the health and safety of the spacecraft and potentially continue with some level of imaging operations. However, the potential loss of battery #2 would mean a loss in the level of redundancy.
The satellite continues to operate on battery #3 but is not collecting imagery. Battery #3 appears to be operating normally and maintaining an adequate charge to continue the mission. It is expected that the spacecraft can operate satisfactorily in this configuration (barring any further complications).
Three phases to the investigation and recovery activity are under way. Each successive phase will be dependent on the outcome of the previous phase.
Phase 1: Maintain and ensure the continued operation of Landsat 5 using only battery #3.
Phase 2: Determine the optimum charging profile with battery #2 and battery #3 online. Bring battery #2 back online and monitor performance. If battery #2 and battery #3 can be charged to produce sufficient power, there is potential to operate in this configuration.
Phase 3: Investigate bringing battery #1 back into service.
The FOT is currently working on Phase 2 of the plan and will work with battery experts in mid-November to bring battery #2 back online. By the end of November, the team will have sufficient information to make a recommendation on the Landsat 5 mission concept—return to full operations or transition to a more limited operations concept.
Effective November 14, 2006, approximately 2pm CST, the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) has implemented a new pricing module. The intent of this change is to provide customers with an easy, straightforward way to determine the entire cost of an on-line order prior to placing the order.
To implement this new module, USGS EROS has modified the product pricing structure to incorporate product delivery costs into the price of each product. As a result, customers may see a modest pricing change for some of the products but this does not reflect a product price increase, just a different approach to determine the total cost of an order, which in most cases will remain about the same.
This change has simplified the pricing structure and ensured that all products are treated the same way. The price of a product now includes the cost of retrieving a copy of the data from the archive and delivering it to the customer. Additional processing costs will continue to be treated separately.
For further assistance, please contact:
Customer Services U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) 47914 252nd Street Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001
Tel: 800-252-4547 Tel: 605-594-6151 TDD: 605-594-6933 Fax: 605-594-6589 Email: custserv@usgs.gov
The US Geological Survey (USGS) now offers Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C (SIR-C) Previously Processed Precision Data for downloading at no charge through Earth Explorer at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov.
SIR-C is an imaging radar system flown aboard the space shuttle with two flights from 9 to 20 April 1994 and 30 September to 11 October 1994. Flying at an altitude of 215 km in a circular orbit and a 57 degree inclination, the three-frequency, multi-polarization radar performed a variety of Earth environmental observations that are used to improve our understanding of the Earth's carbon, water, and energy cycles. Throughout the 9 year history of SIR-C operations at EROS, nearly 19,000 SIR-C precision products were generated for customers, copies of which are stored in the EROS archive and made available to the public.
For more information regarding SIR-C, please see: http://eros.usgs.gov/products/satellite/sirc.html or contact USGS Customer Service, EROS, 800-252-4547 or custserv@usgs.gov.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) now offers the complete archive of AVHRR 7 and 14 Day Greenness Composite Map products for the conterminous United States and Alaska for downloading at no charge through Earth Explorer at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. The archive includes data from 1989 to the present. For more information regarding AVHRR 7 and 14 Day Greenness Map products, please go to http://eros.usgs.gov/products/landcover/ndvi.html or contact USGS Customer Service, EROS, 800-252-4547 or custserv@usgs.gov.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), in cooperation with NASA, is pleased to announce the release of a new Systematic Terrain-Corrected (Level 1Gst) data product from the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) Hyperion sensor. This new processing option provides increased quality and improved geometric accuracy for the Hyperion data product. In the past, the Hyperion image product consisted of L1R (radiometrically corrected) data only.
The new Hyperion product is available for $500 per scene, and may be searched and ordered through Earth Explorer or the USGS Global Visualization Viewer. For more information, please visit the EO-1 website: http://eo1.usgs.gov/
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey URL: http://eros.usgs.gov/ Page Contact Information: custserv@usgs.gov Page Last Modified: February 2, 2006
