Professional Documents
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ci s’ G
S u id
e
7
to L
ands a t
From monitoring croplands
in Arizona to mapping
ice streams in the Antarctic,
Landsat 7 will advance
earth science research.
March 1999
Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
a finer resolution to allow for investiga- The Landsat 7 system will collect
tions of the causes of land-surface and archive an unprecedented quantity
change. of high-quality multispectral data each
Landsat 7 will gather remotely day. This dataset will, for the first time,
sensed images of land surface and provide a high-resolution view of both
coastal regions for global change re- seasonal and interannual changes in the
search, regional environmental change terrestrial environment. The USGS Earth
studies, national security uses, and other Resources Observation Systems Data
civil and commercial purposes. The Center (Sioux Falls, SD) will process,
Landsat 7 project is part of NASA’s long archive, and distribute all U.S. Landsat
term, coordinated research effort to data. U.S. data will be acquired prima-
study the Earth as a global environmen- rily at the EROS Data Center; supporting
tal system. ground stations in Alaska and Norway
The Landsat Science Team, com- will also be used.
posed of 14 scientific investigators, was The Landsat Project, located at
selected in 1996. These researchers are Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt,
conducting a range of studies designed Md.), manages Landsat development for
to exploit the characteristics of Landsat 7 NASA’s Office of Earth Science in
for global change research. The satellite Washington, D.C. USGS operations will
will fly in near-formation with Terra, be performed at a Mission Operations
observing the same ground track just a Center at the Goddard Space Flight
few minutes apart. Landsat 7 will Center and at the EROS Data Center.
capture and store in a U. S. archive
global landmass data once per season.
Following an initial 60-70 day
checkout period, Landsat 7 will begin
normal operations. Daily commands
will be sent to the spacecraft defining
which images to record and when to
downlink data either to U.S. or interna-
tional ground stations. NASA will
continue to manage day-to-day opera-
tions until October 2000, when they will
be turned over to USGS.
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
4
Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Research Profiles
Volcanic hazards and lava lakes
Luke Flynn, University of Hawaii
5
Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Traffic jams and air pollution in Observing urban areas over time
large metropolitan areas are sure signs with satellite imagery can also be used
of expanding populations. Across the to make predictions about future
globe, 50 percent of the world’s popula- growth. Landsat imagery can show
tion now lives in urban areas, a gain of where the growth is taking place and
over one billion individuals in the last help geographers evaluate how different
30 years. In the United States, urban urban planning programs effect popula-
How do zoning growth can be counted in a census, but tion growth and land use, according to
policies and how do these expanding populations Masek. Cities such as Portland, Ore.,
affect the landscape? Are urban areas have strict planning and environmen-
environmental making good use of limited space or are tally sensitive zoning laws, while many
they succumbing to urban sprawl? How Southwestern cities have grown with
pressures
do factors like zoning policies and few planning guidelines.
influence the environmental pressures influence the With Landsat 7 observations, Masek
expansion of populations over the land? and colleagues intend to evaluate
expansion of
Jeffrey Masek and Frank Lindsy, growth patterns of other cities around
urban geographers from the University of the world. With a greater number of
Maryland, are using Landsat data to images available, Masek can compare
populations? study land use efficiency, which is the cities once every two years to capture
amount of land area used by increasing detailed records of land use changes.
populations. Using Landsat data ac-
quired between 1973 and 1996, Masek Contact information: Jeffrey G. Masek,
and Lindsy mapped the growth of the Department of Geography, University of
Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Maryland; tel. 301-405-8233;
They found that the Washington jmasek@geog.umd.edu.
area has expanded at a rate of 8.5 square University of Maryland Office of University
miles (22 square kilometers) per year Relations, Lee Tune, tel. 301-405-4679;
with notably higher growth during the ltune@accmail.umd.edu.
late 1980s, a trend that followed the
regional and national economy. They
also found distinct variations in the
efficiency of land use among neighbor-
ing counties in Maryland and Virginia,
in part reflecting the land use policies of
these jurisdictions.
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
More than 10 percent of the United pivot irrigation since 1985. Some of the
States’ High Plains region is made up of pivots are located in the dune areas and
sand dunes and sand sheets that are these spots would become dune reacti-
currently stabilized by the natural vation sites if the irrigation were discon-
grasses growing on them and by irri- tinued, according to Goetz.
gated farming. If future climate change Combining land-cover data with
leads to increased temperatures and less meteorological and future climate data
rainfall in this arid region, as some in a regional climate model, Goetz plans Some climate
climate models predict, these sandy to produce a model-based method for models predict
landscapes could be “reactivated” and estimating future dune reactivation and
begin blowing as they did in the “dust identifying the areas with the highest these sandy
bowl” years of the 1930s. potential for reactivation. The team will
landscapes
Information about the dunes in this also investigate the potential effect of
800,000 square-kilometer region – abandoning farmed and irrigated lands could begin
encompassing parts of Colorado, South on dune reactivation.
blowing as they
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Landsat 7 data will provide the
Texas, and New Mexico – has been researchers with many more images did in the “dust
available for decades. However, a than are currently available, since the
systematic study of the relationship team will acquire images from every
bowl” years.
between humans and the land and land- pass of the satellite over the region. With
use change on a large geographic scale multiple images during a growing
is only now possible utilizing satellite season, they can more precisely distin-
observations. guish crop types and change. Goetz
Alexander Goetz, professor of expects that by extending the Landsat
geological sciences at the University of dataset beyond 2000, he will be able to
Colorado is leading a research team to catch a significant drought year, which
create an effective way to assess how the will help to validate models for the
High Plains will be affected by future effect of low rainfall in the High Plains.
climate change. Using Landsat 5 data
from 1984 to the present, Goetz’ team Contact information: Alexander F. H. Goetz,
has completed a detailed study of land Director, Center for the Study of Earth from
cover change in northeastern Colorado Space, Cooperative Institute for Research in
and is creating a 15-year database of Environmental Sciences, University of
land cover and human-induced land Colorado, tel. 303-492-5086;
cover changes in the region. goetz@khroma.colorado.edu.
One of the more striking observa- Office of Public Relations, Jim Scott, tel.
tions is the dramatic shift from dry-land 303-492-3114; jim.scott@colorado.edu.
farming and flood irrigation to center-
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
As snow begins to melt at the close synoptic perspective, and high resolu-
of winter, large lakes receive warm tion is a unique asset that may be used
spring river run-off carrying pollutants to further understand the water quality
that are potentially harmful to phy- issues affecting Great Lakes coastal
toplankton and the fish that feed on waters.
them. The warmer water initially stays Schott’s work may eventually be
near the shoreline, not mixing with the helpful in understanding how the
In large lakes the cold winter lake water. Salt, sediment, release of industrial pollutants into the
fertilizer and chemical pollutants in the Genesee and Niagara rivers during the
“thermal bar”
run-off are concentrated in a small band thermal bar formation in Lake Ontario
can become of warmer water close to the shore called effect the lake’s ecosystem. Thermal bar
the thermal bar. By June, the lake’s formation occurs during the spring
potentially toxic
waters are well mixed, and pollutants when plants and animals in the lake are
to plants and brought into the lake are very dilute. in the early stages of development.
Most lakes in regions that have cold Schott and his research team are
animals. winters and warm summers have an using Landsat data to determine how
annual episode of thermal bar forma- large-scale hydrodynamic processes in
tion. But only in large lakes does the the Great Lakes control water quality.
thermal bar persist for two months and The thermal bar formation is modeled
become potentially toxic to lake plants using Landsat data and three-dimen-
and animals. sional hydrodynamic models. Eventu-
John Schott, of the Rochester Insti- ally, the models will track the annual
tute of Technology’s Digital Imaging and evolution of the thermal bar and attempt
Remote Sensing Laboratory, is using to predict the bar’s formation several
Landsat imagery to help predict the months in advance.
extent, duration, and impacts of the
thermal bar formation in the Laurentian Contact information: John Schott, Rochester
Great Lakes. For the two months that the Institute of Technology, Digital Imaging and
bar persists, it controls most of the fluid Remote Sensing Laboratory, tel. 716-475-
flow in the lakes and has a dramatic 5170; jrspci@ritvax.isc.rit.edu.
impact on water quality. Landsat offers University News Service, Kathy Lindsley,
the unique opportunity to study both the tel. 716-475-5061; kjlcom@rit.edu.
thermal bar processes and the direct
impact on the water quality at both
whole lake scales and localized scales.
The combination of spectral coverage,
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Even though tropical deforestation and rates of land cover change. The
is a well-known problem, the rate of geospatially referenced information is
deforestation in the tropics is currently then fed into socioeconomic and terres-
known to only a very general degree. trial ecosystem models to explore the
Recent research using Landsat images of causes and effects of deforestation.
forest loss over a decade from the mid- Skole’s team is currently analyzing
1970s to mid-1980s found that an Landsat 5 imagery from the 1990s for the
average of 6200 square miles of forest Brazilian Amazon and Southeast Asia to The cause of
were lost each year in the Brazilian develop estimates of recent tropical deforestation is
Amazon. The annual rate in the smaller deforestation. In addition, they are
Southeast Asia region was estimated to performing multi-year studies in the being studied
be 4800 square miles per year. A key Amazon basin to determine the year-to-
with socio-
problem facing scientists today is year changes in deforestation rates.
determining deforestation rates and These data will be important not only in economic and
understanding their causes and effects. yielding the rate of deforestation but for
David Skole of Michigan State
ecosystem
the analysis of carbon uptake by tropical
University is involved in several initia- rain forests and for understanding the models.
tives to study the rates, causes, and social and economic causes.
effects of tropical deforestation in the With the launch of Landsat 7, the
Amazon Basin, Southeast Asia, and amount of data available for this re-
Africa. Using Landsat imagery, his search will increase dramatically. Highly
research analyzes changes in forest detailed, near-real-time analysis will be
cover at a 30-m resolution and models possible with the new imagery, allowing
the effects of this on the carbon cycle. By for rapid assessment of land use and
combining satellite imagery with land cover change.
socioeconomic data, Skole is also
searching for the economic and social Contact information: David Skole, Director,
causes of deforestation. Basic Science and Remote Sensing Initiative,
Using three different wavelength Department of Geography, Michigan State
bands of Landsat Thematic Mapper University, tel. (517) 432-7774;
imagery to quantify the vegetation skole@pilot.msu.edu.
characteristics, Skole’s team categorizes Media Communications Office, Sue Nichols,
land cover into primary rain forest, tel. 517-355-2281, nichols@pilot.msu.edu.
regrowing rain forest, agricultural
clearings, and other classes. These data
are manipulated using a geographic
information system to explore patterns
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
For farmers and land managers, resolution is not as good as Landsat. The
increasing crop yields and cutting costs combination of radar and Landsat gives
while reducing environmental pollution a continuous record of the land surface
is a constant challenge. To accomplish and vegetation health.
this goal, many farm managers are The thermal band on Landsat can
looking for new technologies to help detect crop health by seeing plants
them decide when and where to irrigate, transpire, or lose moisture through their
Crop yields can fertilize, seed crops, and use herbicides. leaves—a factor directly related to plant
be increased by Currently the decisions are based on health. When plant transpiration rates
very limited data collected in “spot decrease, growth rates decrease and the
monitoring plant checks” from the ground. plants appear unhealthy. Managers use
Recent technological advances in this information to target where to
health and plant
geographic information systems (GIS) fertilize and irrigate. Other Landsat
cover from and computer modeling are playing a bands can see the extent of vegetation
part in farm management and precision cover while radar can pick up moisture
space. in the soil.
farming. Using data collected by satel-
lites, important agricultural factors like The methods developed by Moran
plant health, plant cover and soil mois- are already in use by land managers
ture can be monitored from space, through a Cooperative Research and
providing a much bigger picture of the Development Agreement with a com-
land surface that can be combined with mercial image supplier. The 24-hour
other technologies to help cut costs and turnaround of the new Landsat 7 data
increase crop yields. will enable expanded applications of
Susan Moran, a US Department of remote sensing in agricultural and
Agriculture Agricultural Research natural resource monitoring.
Service soil scientist, based in Phoenix,
Ariz., developed a method to help Contact information: Susan Moran, U. S.
farmers with resource management by Department of Agriculture, Agricultural
combining Landsat images with radar Research Service, U. S. Water Conservation
data from several polar orbiting satel- Laboratory, tel. 520-670-6380, x171;
lites. Although Landsat sees the surface moran@tucson.ars.ag.gov.
very clearly, its usefulness is limited USDA Agriculture Research Service
because it can’t see through clouds, and Current Information Branch, Marcia Wood,
it only flies over a particular area once 510-559-6070, mwood@asrr.arsusda.gov.
every 16 days. Most farm management
decisions require information on a daily
or biweekly basis. Radar can see through
clouds and be collected daily, but the
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Fire, drought, and humans all can global monitoring system for temperate
destroy forests and their ecosystems. conifer forests. The monitoring system
While much attention is paid to defores- will measure the rates of destruction of
tation in tropical rainforests, very few conifer forests due to natural causes
comprehensive studies have been done to such as drought and fire and anthropo-
address changes in the Earth’s temperate genic clearing due to harvest or develop-
conifer forests. Temperate conifer forests ment of forest lands. The monitoring
lie at latitudes above tropical forests and system will also track the regrowth of Forest
below boreal forests and account for forests and successional change in destruction
much of the forested area in the United vegetation.
States and Europe. The new system will work in con- from natural
Understanding changes occurring in junction with NASA EOS land cover causes can be
temperate conifer forests is important for change studies based on the EOS Moder-
understanding environmental issues ate-resolution Imaging distinguished
including wildlife habitat protection, Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The
watershed management, timber harvest,
from human
MODIS instrument will fly aboard the
and understanding the role of human Terra satellite set for launch in July 1999, activities.
activities on changes in regional climates. and will be used to identify large areas
Previously, researchers have only of significant changes in forest lands.
been able to monitor changes in specific Following up with the finer spatial
locations with Landsat data due to its resolution data from Landsat will allow
limited availability. Boston University determination of the type of changes and
geographer Curtis E. Woodcock and their geographic extent.
colleagues used Landsat to monitor how
drought in the late 1980s and early 1990s Contact information: Curtis E. Woodcock,
affected forests in California’s Sierra Department of Geography and Center for
Nevada. During the drought, Woodcock Remote Sensing, Boston University, tel.
found that Landsat images could recog- 617-353-5746; curtis@bu.edu.
nize areas where trees were dying due to Office of Public Relations, Shauna LaFauci,
lack of water, a factor making the trees tel. 617-353-2399; slafauci@bu.edu.
more susceptible to disease and the forest
more susceptible to fire.
With the help of the frequent and
comprehensive coverage of Landsat 7,
Woodcock and colleagues plan to create a
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
The stability of the West Antarctic attached to the continent but floating on
Ice Sheet is an issue of active research the ocean, to determine the past 1000
and societal concern because of the years of ice flow over much of West
potential economic impact resulting Antarctica.
from an increase in global sea level. The Recently Landsat data have increas-
West Antarctic Ice Sheet, riddled with ingly been used to create more useful
deep crevasses and flowing ice streams, maps for scientific research.
Ice flows may contains over 700,000 cubic miles (3 Bindschadler is combining Landsat data
million cubic kilometers) of ice. with past surveys of the latitude, longi-
move more
Researchers are studying how the tude, and elevation of known locations
quickly and ice moves and what forces cause the ice around the Antarctic continent to create
to flow. If the forces change, the ice a library of image control points. The
slide into the
sheets may flow much more quickly and library is available on the Internet for use
sea if the forces slide off the continent into the sea. by researchers.
Monitoring these changes from the Landsat 7 data will enhance tech-
driving them ground is difficult because treacherous niques developed at Goddard to study
change. conditions allow researchers to collect ice motion and flow history by providing
only a limited amount of measurements. finer spatial resolution, more continuous
Robert Bindschadler, a glaciologist at spatial coverage, and an updated view of
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the ever-changing Antarctic ice sheet.
uses Landsat data in a variety of ways to
make more information available for Contact information: Robert Bindschadler,
determining the ice sheet’s behavior. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Landsat’s high spatial resolution allows bob@igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov.
individual crevasses to be tracked over Goddard Public Affairs Office, Lynn
time. Using these natural markers not Chandler, 301-614-5562;
only provides many more velocity data lychand@pop100.gsfc.nasa.gov.
to be collected, but concentrates the
measurements in the most rapidly
moving and most dangerous areas.
Other surface features such as
flowstripes formed by rapid ice flow are
also being used to uncover the history of
the ice sheet. Bindschadler and col-
leagues have analyzed surface features
on the Ross Ice Shelf, a vast area of ice
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
In recent years, wildland fires have fuel type can be distinguished from
become more intense resulting in alpine meadows which dry at a different
increased loss of human life and natural rate. Similarly, biomass from deciduous
resource damage. An important factor hardwood can be distinguished from Landsat
in dealing with this problem is informa- evergreen hardwood, which retains its imagery is being
tion on the amount and condition of dry leaves.
biomass on the ground, which acts as Van Wagtendonk has also used used to identify
fuel that feeds wildland fires. With single-scene Landsat images to classify different types
information about fuels, fire managers different types of fuels over the past five
can better predict potential fire behav- years. Maps produced from this analysis of dry biomass
ior, make more informed tactical and have been used to predict the behavior on the ground.
strategic decisions, and conduct treat- of two large wildland fires in 1994 and
ments to reduce the amount of dry 1995 that were being allowed to burn to
biomass. meet resource objectives.
U. S. Geological Survey researcher The addition of a panchromatic band
Jan van Wagtendonk from the Western on Landsat 7 will enhance the capability
Ecological Research Center’s Yosemite to distinguish tree density classes, which
National Park station, and Ralph Root, directly affects fuel moisture content and
from the USGS Center for Biological wind speeds near the ground. Seasonal
Informatics in Denver, have been changes can also be tracked more easily
examining the use of time series of with the more frequent observations
Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery for Landsat 7 will make.
developing a technique to identify fuel
types based on seasonal changes in plant Contact information: Jan van Wagtendonk,
condition. Six Landsat scenes at one- U. S. Geological Survey, Biological
month intervals during the 1992 grow- Resources Division, Western Ecological
ing season are being examined using Research Center, Yosemite Field Station,
hyperspectral analysis, a type of analysis El Portal, Calif.; tel. 209-379-1885,
that deals with large data sets with jan_van_wagtendonk@usgs.gov.
several spectral bands. Sonoran Desert Field Station, University of
Using the time series, changes in Arizona, Gloria Meander, tel. 520-670-6896
annual grasslands, for instance, can be x1, gloria_meander@usgs.gov.
traced as the plants green up in the
spring and dry during the summer. This
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Glossary
Band (channel). A band is a slice of Panchromatic. Sensitive to all or most of
wavelengths from the electromagnetic the visible spectrum, between 0.4 and 0.7
spectrum. Landsat ETM+ has eight micrometers. Landsat 7 has a panchro-
bands which collect radiation from matic band.
different parts of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Of the eight bands, three Passive sensor. One type of remote
bands are visible light, one band is sensing instrument, a passive sensor
panchromatic, three bands are infrared, picks up radiation reflected or emitted
and one band is thermal infrared. by the Earth. ETM+ is a passive remote
sensing system.
Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus
(ETM+). The sensor aboard Landsat 7 Polar orbit. An orbit with its plane
that picks up solar radiation reflected by, aligned parallel with the polar axis of
or emitted from the Earth. the Earth. Landsat’s polar orbit is 438
miles (705 kilometers) above the Earth.
Electromagnetic radiation. Energy
transfer in the form of electromagnetic Radar. Short for “radio detection and
waves or particles that propagate ranging,” radar sends out short pulses of
through space at the speed of light. microwave energy and records the
returned signal’s strength and time of
Electromagnetic spectrum. The entire arrival.
range of electromagnetic radiation. The
spectrum usually is divided into seven Resolution. A measure of the amount of
sections. From the longest wavelengths detail that can be seen in an image.
to the shortest: radio, microwave,
infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, and Scenes. Each Landsat image collected is
gamma-ray radiation. called a scene. Each scene is 115 x 106
miles long. The globe is divided into
Geostationary orbit. An orbit in which a 57,784 scenes.
satellite is always in the same position
with respect to the rotating Earth. The Synoptic view. The ability to see large
satellite travels around the Earth in the areas at one time, such as an entire
same direction, at an altitude of approxi- metropolitan area.
mately 22,000 miles (35,800 kilometers).
Thermal infrared. Electromagnetic
Infrared radiation. Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths between 3
radiation with wavelengths between and 25 micrometers.
about 0.7 to 1000 micrometers. Infrared
waves are not visible to the human eye. Visible radiation. The electromagnetic
Longer infrared waves are called ther- radiation that humans can see as colors.
mal infrared waves. The visible spectrum is made up of
wavelengths between 0.4 to 0.7 mi-
Multispectral image. A remote sensing crometers. Red is the longest and violet
image created using data collected from is the shortest. Landsat 7 has three
more than one band. visible bands in red, green, and blue.
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
Contact Information
Landsat 7 Science Team Robert Cahalan
Code 913
Darrel Williams NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Landsat 7 Project Scientist Greenbelt, MD 20771
Code 923 301-286-4276
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center cahalan@clouds.gsfc.nasa.gov
Greenbelt, MD 20771
301-286-8860 Luke Flynn
Darrel.L.Williams.1@gsfc.nasa.gov University of Hawaii
Hawaii Institute of Geophysics &
James Irons Paleontology
Deputy Landsat 7 Project Scientst 2525 Correa Rd.
Code 923 Honolulu, HI 96822
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 808-956-3154
Greenbelt, MD 20771 flynn@waterloo.pgd.hawaii.edu
301-286-8978
jim_irons@gsfc.nasa.gov Alexander Goetz
University of Colorado
Samuel Goward Boulder CSES
Landsat 7 Science Team Leader Campus Box 216
University of Maryland Boulder , CO 80309
Department of Geography 303-492-5086
College Park , MD 20742 goetz@cses.colorado.edu
301-405-4050
sg21@umail.umd.edu Susan Moran
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Jeffrey Masek Water Conservation Lab
Landsat 7 Deputy Team Leader 2000 E. Allen Rd.
University of Maryland Tucson, AZ 85719
Department of Geography 520-670-6380
College Park, MD 20742 moran@tucson.ars.ag.gov
301-405-8233
jmasek@geog.umd.edu Frank Muller-Karger
University of South Florida
Robert Bindschadler Dept. of Marine Science
Code 971 140 7th Avenue South
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Greenbelt, MD 20771 813-893-9186
301-286-7611 carib@carbon.marine.usf.edu
bob@igloo.gsfc.nasa.gov
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Science Writers’ Guide to Landsat 7
17
Earth Observing System Project Science Office
Code 900
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771