To celebrate the latest release of Landsat-9 data, this week we took a closer look at a part of Wasginghton — the most northwestern US state — through Landsat-9 lenses.
Landsat was launched in September 2021 and its data now publicly available For users and researchers around the world. The satellite will maintain the critical role of a program for monitoring, understanding and managing soil resources necessary for the continuation of human life.
As a result of cooperation between NASA and the US Geological Survey, the satellite carries two scientific instruments, called Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2). The first takes pictures of the Earth’s surface in the visible, near-infrared and short-wavelength infrared bands, while the second device measures thermal infrared radiation (ie, heat) emitted from the Earth’s surface.
The false-color image, acquired by Landsat-9 on February 12, 2022, was processed using the satellite’s near-infrared channel. This channel is often used to learn about vegetation, which is especially evident in the lower half of the image. Fields currently used for cultivation are shown in bright red, while areas without vegetation are shown in green and brown. Circular shapes, predominant in the lower left, are fields with central pivot irrigation, in which the device rotates around a central support and crops are irrigated with sprinklers.
Washington is a leading country in agriculture, with the main crops being apples, potatoes, and wheat.
The Columbia River, the longest waterway in the Pacific Northwest, is shown at the top of the image in black. The river originates in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, flows through the states of Washington and Oregon, and then flows into the Pacific Ocean. The river is one of the world’s largest sources of hydroelectric power, and together with its tributaries, it accounts for a third of the hydroelectric potential of the entire United States.
Because water absorbs a large amount of radiation, bodies of water such as the Columbia River appear black in the image. However, some water ice formations on the left appear in turquoise, with ice reflecting less in the near-infrared channel than in the visible range of the spectrum.
The Landsat series is part of the European Space Agency’s Third Party Missions Programme, which consists of about 50 satellite missions and is also part of the European Space Agency’s Heritage Space programme.
To learn more about Landsat-9 click here.
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Earth from space: Washington, United States
To celebrate the latest release of data from Landsat-9, this week we’re taking a closer look at a part of Washington state — the far northwestern United States — through the lens of Landsat-9.
Data from Landsat-9, launched in September 2021, is now publicly available For users and researchers around the world. The satellite will continue the program’s critical role in monitoring, understanding and managing Earth’s resources needed to sustain human life.
A partnership between NASA and the US Geological Survey, the satellite carries two science instruments, the Operational Earth Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2). OLI-2 captures observations of the Earth’s surface in the visible, near-infrared, and shortwave bands, and TIRS-2 measures thermal infrared radiation, or heat, emitted from the Earth’s surface.
This false-color image, captured on February 12, 2022 by Landsat-9, was processed using the satellite’s near-infrared channel. This channel is frequently used to highlight vegetation, which is particularly evident in the lower half of the image. Currently cultivated fields can be seen in bright red, while uncultivated areas are shown in green and brown. The circular shapes, mostly in the lower left, are pivot fields – the equipment rotates around a central axis and crops are irrigated with sprinklers. Washington is a leading agricultural country, with the most important crops being apples, milk, potatoes, and wheat.
The Columbia River, the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, is shown at the top of the image in black. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, and flows through Washington and Oregon, before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is one of the world’s largest sources of hydroelectric power, and together with its tributaries, it accounts for a third of the potential hydroelectric capacity of the United States.
When water absorbs a fair amount of radiation, bodies of water such as the Columbia River appear black in the image. However, some scattered ice water bodies to the left of the image can be seen in turquoise as the ice reflects less in the near-infrared channel than it does in the visible part of the spectrum.
The Landsat series is part of the European Space Agency’s Third Party Missions Program of about 50 satellite missions, and also forms part of the European Space Agency’s Heritage Space programme.
Read more about Landsat-9 by clicking here .
[Credits: USGS/NASA Landsat/ESA – Translation: Gianluca Pititto]
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