NASA’s Global Orthorectified Landsat Data Set

Abstract

NASA has sponsored the creation of an orthorectified and geodetically accurate global land data set of Landsat Multispectral Scanner, Thematic Mapper, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper data, from the 1970s, circa 1990, and circa 2000, respectively, to support a variety of scientific studies and educational purposes. This is the first time a geodetically accurate global compendium of orthorectified multi-epoch digital satellite data at the 30- to 80-m spatial scale spanning 30 years has been produced for use by the international scientific and educational communities. We describe data selection, orthorectification, accuracy, access, and other aspects of these data.