The Landsat Program - Resources
Resources
image resources | science stories | background information | educational presentations | landsat lithographs | classroom activities | data resources for educators | learning games | informative animations |additional resources | glossary
Image Resources
Please note: all images are FREE of cost and carry no copyright. NASA simply requests that users give proper attribution.
Earth as Art
Originally designed as a celebration of 30 years of successful Landsat
data collections, but expanded to include other Earth observing satellites.
This collection of stunning images chosen purely for esthetic purposes
has proven to have broad appeal with the general public.
EarthShots:
Satellite Images of Environmental Change
This site presents a series of case studies of environmental
change illustrated through satellite images. Articles provide
excellent explanation of the imagery, and references for further
reading. Examples include urban growth of Las Vegas, NV, phosphate
mines near Orlando FL, Great Salt Lake high water levels in the
1980s, Mt St. Helens, and Hubbard Glacier.
USGS Landsat
Image Gallery
An easy-to-browse array of images including such Earth
features as volcanoes, floods, cities and more.
Visible
Earth
This site is a treasure trove for interpreters or other educators
needing illustrations of global or regional scale phenomena such
as the ozone hole, volcanic activity, hurricanes, El Niño,
etc. This archive of beautiful Earth imagery is arranged by topics,
and updated constantly. You can search on Landsat.
Each image has an explanation, and many are linked to stories
in the news or on the Earth Observatory web site (see below).
Scientific
Visualization Studio (SVS)
If
you are looking for a zoom into Earth or out from it, this is the
place to go (click on “great zooms”). The SVS creates
an amazing array of images and animations using satellite and other
data to illustrate research done by NASA. Searchable by keyword,
and by instrument,
many images and movies have text, and some are linked to science
stories.
:: top ::
Science Stories
Visit our News and Features section.
Landsat on Earth Observatory, (PDF, 84 Kb)
This document provides an annotated list of articles, arranged by topic,
and featuring Landsat on NASA’s Earth Observatory Website. Earth
Observatory features loads of relevant, up to date articles in layman’s
language about NASA’s Earth science research. Any and all materials
published on the Earth Observatory are freely available for re-publication
or re-use, except where copyright is indicated. We ask that NASA’s
Earth Observatory be given credit for its original materials. The free
subscription option provides a short e-mail message letting you know what’s
new each week.
Landsat (external
link) in
the American Museum of
Natural History science bulletins (external link)
These AMNH bulletins include in-depth feature stories about Earth science.
Landsat occasionally appears in these articles.
Landsat on the Scientific Visualization Studio
For impressive images, fly-through movies and zooms, as well as some
science stories, visit the Goddard
Scientific Visualization Studio,
and search on “Landsat.” An archive of
Earth science stories is available. Here are links to a few of their
science stories that feature Landsat:
- Urbanization and Sprawl
- It's not so simple to say that one way of managing an urban area is better than another; cities have varied personalities and needs just like people. But many scientists hope that this research will help urban planners make better decisions about the futures of what are coming to be known as mega-cities.
- Loss of Mesopotamian (Iraq) Wetlands
- Landsat satellite imagery reveals that between 1990 and 2000, wetlands that once covered as much as 20,000 square km in parts of Iraq and Iran were reduced to a small fraction of their original size. Note: This article was written in 2000. Read what has happened with a recovery effort.
- 30 Years of Landsat
- In 2002 NASA celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Landsat program. This article highlights some wonderful examples of Landsat's capability to observe changes over time, making use of the 30-year record of Earth observations. Images and movies are featured.
:: top ::
Background Information
How Satellite Images are
Made (PDF, 1.3 Mb)
This presentation briefly explains what Landsat measures, and what all those
weird colors mean.
Download the accompanying Landsat
7 San Francisco Onionskin animation (Quicktime,
7.8 Mb)
Landsat 7 Compositor
The Compositor provides a visual explanation of satellite images. This site includes some basic information about the electromagnetic spectrum and the various wavelengths detected by the Landsat 7 satellite.
Introduction to Remote Sensing
Scroll down to "Introduction to Remote Sensing Presentations" and select
the size file you want.
Thematic
Guide: Land-Use and Land-Cover Change
by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network
(CIESIN)
This guide provides background information on important topics in land use and
land cover change research: deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss,
land cover and the water cycle, land cover and the carbon cycle, and urbanization.
Geomorphology from Space
The core of this book (external
link) is
a gallery of 237 space-based images, each treating a geographic region
where a particular landform theme is exemplified. Commentary, photographs,
locator maps, and sometimes a geologic map accompany each plate.
Landsat
7 Overview
Landsat
Fact Sheet, March 2003 (PDF,
208 Kb)
The Landsat 7 Press Kit, April 1999 (PDF, 350 Kb)
Science Writers Guide, March 1999 (PDF, 380 Kb)
Landsat 7 Brochure, Pre-launch
1997 (PDF, 484 Kb)
:: top ::
Educational Presentations
Using Remote Sensing Images in Interpretation (PDF, 3.9 Mb)
Working with Landsat Data (PDF, 4.2 Mb)
Take the
Landform Quiz! (PDF, 32 Kb)
After downloading the quiz, open the Landform Quiz Slide Show (PowerPoint,
1.6 Mb ~or~ PDF, 1
Mb), and see if you can figure out which of the following landforms
corresponds to each slide. (Some slides may have more than one correct
answer). You may check your answers against the answer
sheet (PDF,
20 Kb). Most of the images for this activity were obtained from the
Earth as Art collection. For more information about each image, view
the slide show in notes form (PowerPoint,
1.7 Mb ~or~ PDF, 1 Mb).
Please feel free to create your own version of a Landforms Quiz using
any of the imagery located on our website
:: top ::
Landsat Lithographs
NASA's lithographs are one-page informational handouts. There is a full color image on the front, and explanatory text on the back. Below is a list of lithographs from the Landsat mission. Please feel free to download and print!
- Alaska's Thawing Permafrost, Spring 2009 (PDF, 1.1 Mb)
- Alaska's Bear Glacier, Spring 2008 (PDF, 600 Kb)
- Landsat & Climate Change, Winter 2008 (PDF, 360 Kb)
- Antarctica's Drygalski Ice Tongue, Winter 2008 (PDF, 1.7 Mb)
- Blending Science and Art, Summer 2006 (PDF, 916 Kb)
- The Chesapeake Bay, Spring 2006 (PDF, 664 Kb)
- Baltimore, Maryland, Fall 1999 (PDF, 668 Kb)
- Outer Banks, North Carolina, Fall 1999 (PDF, 572 Kb)
- Washington, D.C., Fall 1999 (PDF, 672 Kb)
- Amelia the Pigeon: NYC, Spring 2003 (PDF, 312 Kb)
:: top ::
Data Resources
The Landsat data sets featured on the following websites have been subset and prepared for easy use in MultiSpec© (external link), a free image processing software package from Purdue University.
- Landsat 7 Data Sets: LAN files for use with MultiSpec©
- Full Landsat scenes are very large files. This Web site provides scene subsets of interesting cities and natural areas around the world.
- Finding your location
- This site will help you to find out which Landsat scene(s) cover a given location.
- Monitoring land use change with Landsat
- Here you can download two geolocated data subsets collected a decade
apart to analyze the land use change in areas such as Atlanta,
New York City, Kansas City, and more.
:: top ::
Learning Games
Spuzzled!
Just for fun, try your hand at these interactive puzzles! Along the way
you can learn a little about Landsat, and some of the exotic and
interesting places pictured by its sensor.
The Space Place
The Space Place is a multi-faceted NASA outreach program. It creates unique
educational products in a variety of media for a broad range of audiences.
You can find word puzzles, scrambled pictures, crazy quizzes, a
board game and more on this site made especially for elementary aged
children.
:: top ::
Informative Animations
These animations provide basic information about Landsat and Earth remote sensing.
:: top :
Additional NASA EARTH SCIENCE Resources
The Globe Program
The Globe Program is an exciting, worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary
school-based education and science program.
NASAexplores
NASAexplores provides free weekly K-12 educational articles and lesson
plans on current NASA projects. Printable and downloadable, these supplemental
curriculum resources meet national education standards.
Earth science@nasa
This website elaborates on the purpose of NASA's Earth science program.
The program strives to develop a scientific understanding of Earth's
system and its response to natural or human-induced changes, and
to improve prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards.
Educator
Astronaut Program
NASA's Educator Astronaut Program web site invites visitors to "see
learning in a whole new light." Students, educators, and parents
can join the Earth Crew and interact with NASA in ground-based projects
and missions, meet NASA astronauts and employees, learn what astronauts
do and what it's like to live in space, and discover how space exploration
impacts our lives on Earth.
Earth Science For Kids Only
See how NASA studies air, land, natural hazards and water and how people
affect the Earth. You can also find fun links to contests, activities
and games.
:: top :
Glossary
Over 260 Landsat-related terms are defined for you in our glossary.
