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2. U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Landsat at 40: The Nation’s oldest Earth-observing satellite program Landsat at 40: The Nation’s oldest Earth-observing satellite program Matt Larsen USGS Associate Director, Climate and Land Use Change May 10, 2013 Yukon delta Landsat “Earth as Art”, on display at Library of Congress

3. “…the time is now right and urgent to apply space technology towards the solution of many pressing natural resource problems being compounded by population and industrial growth.” Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, 1966 2013: National Strategy for Civil Earth Observations

4. Landsat is moderate resolution Low resolution - 1 km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Moderate resolution - 30 m Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus Very high resolution - 1 m IKONOS Panchromatic Optimal for weather and meteorological satellite imagery Optimal for studies at regional, national, or continental scales Optimal for site-specific studies; too fine to easily conduct studies of regional scale phenomena

5. Increasing demand for free Landsat data Total Landsat scenes provided to users since January 2008 Free data policy October 1, 2008 Scenes

6. Who uses Landsat? Federal government USDA estimates domestic and global crop yields NOAA assesses coastal change BLM monitors rangeland conditions in the West BoR monitors water demand FWS maps and monitors wildlife habitat NPS produces wildfire burn severity maps for 30 million acres USGS assesses potential for ecological carbon sequestration

7. Who uses Landsat? Federal government USDA estimates domestic and global crop yields NOAA assesses coastal change BLM monitors rangeland conditions in the West BoR monitors water demand FWS maps and monitors wildlife habitat NPS produces wildfire burn severity maps for 30 million acres USGS assesses potential for ecological carbon sequestration

8. National Land Cover Database agriculture tree canopy water bodies/ wetlands shrubland/ grassland impervious surface 16 land cover classes:

9. Drought Monitoring http://vegdri.unl.edu/

10. Mesa Verde National Park Fire Atlas 198419891990 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 19731978 2004

11. Mitigation of climate change National assessment of ecological carbon sequestration

12. Who Uses Landsat? States Arkansas tracks land use change Texas conducts annual forest inventories California assesses fire risk and tracks land use change Idaho (and other states) monitor consumptive water use Louisiana plans and monitors coastal restoration Ohio develops environmental compliance-monitoring tools Wisconsin develops disaster-recovery maps Kansas monitors unpermitted dams Nebraska maps agricultural land use Minnesota monitors lake clarity 12

13. Understanding policy outcomes 40 years of land use change in the Chesapeake Bay region, and consequences for water quality and wildlife habitat Change In Impervious Surface - 2010

14. A 40-year policy and budget challenge The President’s 2014 budget: -the Administration has committed to continue the Landsat program and its invaluable data stream -contains language calling on NASA and DOI-USGS to jointly develop a follow-on mission to Landsat 8 -we’ve begun, and look forward to a sustained operational mission