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EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE)

The EROS Cal/Val Center of Excellence (ECCOE) is a global leader in improving the accuracy, precision, and quality of remote sensing data. ECCOE experts provide support to Landsat Calibration/Validation, Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, Lidar-3DEP, and Satellite Derived Bathymetry activities. 

Landsat Calibration and Validation 

landsat 7 artist rendering over earth

 

The USGS ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team, along with their NASA counterparts, maintains primary responsibility for radiometric and geometric characterization and the calibration and validation of the Landsat instruments and spacecrafts. This work includes both the ongoing operations of active Landsat missions, as well as the retired Landsat missions. 

Visit the Landsat Calibration and Validation webpage to learn more. 

 

 

JACIE image

Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE)

The Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) was formed to leverage resources from several Federal agencies for the characterization of remote sensing data and to share those results across the remote sensing community.  Consisting of representatives from six Federal agencies, JACIE provides independent characterizations of image and image-derived end products. JACIE is the strong collaboration and enhanced working relationships between government and non-governmental organizations to understand remote sensing information and make it more useful to the user community. JACIE Workshops are held each year. Visit the JACIE page to learn more. 

 

Earth Observing Satellites Online Compendium

Screenshot of the Earth Observing Satellites Online Compendium

The Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) Earth Observing Satellites Online Compendium contains details about past, present and future Earth observing satellites and the sensors they carry.  

Derived from print versions of Compendiums published in 20192020, and 2022, this resource has been developed and is managed by the Requirements, Capabilities and Analysis for Earth Observation (RCA-EO) team at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

Visit the Earth Observing Satellites Online Compendium webpage to learn more. 

 

Lidar Scan of South Dakota Capitol Building

Lidar

Lidar data and their derivative metrics are fundamental inputs to many areas of scientific research,  including flood, erosion, and coastal modeling and mapping, fault detection, land-surface mapping, landslide and volcano hazards, and mapping forest canopy. 

Access Lidar information 

 

 

Uncrewed Aerial Systems

Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) allow for new opportunities for gathering data essential to land management and Earth science.  The potential of these systems requires that they be able to reliably gather accurate data.  

Learn more about Uncrewed Aerial Systems

 

Test Sites Catalog July 2021

Test Site Catalog

The Test Site Catalog contains prime candidate worldwide test sites for the calibration and post-launch characterization of space-based optical imaging sensors. The number of Earth-observing sensors and their derived science products continue to grow rapidly. Without characterization and calibration of these sensors, the products they provide could not be reliably used by scientists and decision makers. Accurate, well-documented calibration is needed to understand and address local and global science and societal impacts and benefits. 

Access the Test Site Catalog

 

 

News

Calibration and Validation Quarterly Reports Now Include Landsat 9 Analysis

Calibration and Validation Quarterly Reports Now Include Landsat 9 Analysis

2024 William T. Pecora Award Nominations Now Being Accepted

2024 William T. Pecora Award Nominations Now Being Accepted

Brief Interruption to Landsat Mission Web Pages

Brief Interruption to Landsat Mission Web Pages

Publications

ECCOE Landsat quarterly Calibration and Validation report—Quarter 3, 2023

Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team
Authors
Md Obaidul Haque, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Mark Lubke, Md Nahid Hasan, Ashish Shrestha, Jerad L. Shaw, Alex Denevan, Kathryn Ruslander, Esad Micijevic, Michael J. Choate, Cody Anderson, Kurt Thome, Ed Kaita, Julia Barsi, Raviv Levy, Jeff Miller, Leibo Ding

Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products

Global changes in climate and land use are threatening natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem services people rely on. This is why it is necessary to track and monitor spatiotemporal change at a level of detail that can inform science, management, and policy development. The current constellation of multiple Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites collecting imagery at predominantly ≤30-m s
Authors
Volker C. Radeloff, David P. Roy, Mike Wulder, Martha Anderson, Bruce D. Cook, Christopher J. Crawford, Mark Friedl, Feng Gao, Noel Gorelick, Matthew Hansen, Sean Healey, Patrick Hostert, Glynn Hulley, Justin Huntington, Dave Johnson, Christopher Neigh, Alexei Lyapustin, Leo Lymburner, Nima Pahlevan, Jean-Francois Pekel, Theodore A. Scambos, Crystal Schaaf, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Curtis Woodcock, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu

The 50-year Landsat collection 2 archive

The Landsat global consolidated data archive now exceeds 50 years. In recognition of the need for consistently processed data across the Landsat satellite series, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated collection-based processing of the entire archive that was processed as Collection 1 in 2016. In preparation for the data from the now successfully launched Landsat 9, the USGS reprocessed the
Authors
Christopher J. Crawford, David P. Roy, Saeed Arab, Christopher Barnes, Eric Vermote, Glynn Hulley, Aaron Gerace, Michael J. Choate, Christopher Engebretson, Esad Micijevic, Gail L. Schmidt, Cody Anderson, Martha Anderson, Michelle Bouchard, Bruce D. Cook, Ray Dittmeier, Danny Howard, Calli Jenkerson, Minsu Kim, Tania Kleyians, Tom Maiersperger, Chase Mueller, Christopher Neigh, Linda Owen, Benjamin Page, Nima Pahelvan, Rajagopalan Rengarajan, Jean-Claude Roger, Kristi Sayler, Pat L Scaramuzza, Sergii Skakun, Lin Yan, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu, Stephen G. Zahn

Science

Eyes on Earth Episode 94 – EROS 50th: Collaborations with SDSU

South Dakota State University, a land grant university less than an hour from EROS, has had links to Landsat and EROS throughout their existence.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 94 – EROS 50th: Collaborations with SDSU

South Dakota State University, a land grant university less than an hour from EROS, has had links to Landsat and EROS throughout their existence.
Learn More

Eyes on Earth Episode 74 – A Satellite Cross Calibration Mission

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear how a new mission will make it easier to use satellite datasets interchangeably.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 74 – A Satellite Cross Calibration Mission

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we hear how a new mission will make it easier to use satellite datasets interchangeably.
Learn More