Landsat Climate Data Records and Essential Climate Variables

A Climate Data Record (CDR), as defined by the National Research Council (NRC) is a time series of measurements with sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to identify climate variability and change. They are fundamental to the generation of Essential Climate Variables (ECV), defined by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

The Landsat archive provides a record of observations from 1972 to the present, and will continue into the future. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is capitalizing on this valuable time series to create CDRs and ECVs that can be used to document changes to Earth's terrestrial environment. CDRs and ECVs provide an authoritative basis for regional to continental scale identification of historical change, monitoring current conditions, and helping to predict future scenarios so that the impact of such changes can be understood so that strategies for adaptation and mitigation can be developed for implementation.

Effective May 17, 2013 – Landsat Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record (CDR) products are available on-demand for many Landsat 5 and all Landsat 7 scenes through the USGS EarthExplorer. Look for the Landsat CDR Data Set.

Effective April 30, 2013 – The final fiscal year 2013 version of the Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS 1.2.1) is available for processing Landsat Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record (CDR) products on-demand. This new version will process Landsat scenes acquired over Antarctica, handling the Polar Stereographic map projection. Details are available in the new Product Guide and Release Notes.

Archive
- Effective March 27, 2013 – Additional Options Added to EROS Science Processing Architecture On-Demand Production Services EROS Science Processing Architecture (ESPA) on-demand production services now include options to select certain products individually or in packages. Options include surface reflectance, top of atmosphere reflectance, source data, source metadata, and surface reflectance-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Use of this new functionality is described in the updated Surface Reflectance Product Guide.
- Effective March 27, 2013 – Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System Version 1.2.0 Available
  Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) version 1.2.0 is available for on-demand production of surface reflectance data. Major changes include: Polar Stereographic support, application of auxiliary files for atmospheric correction based on scene acquisition time read from the source metadata, and a fix for a 0.5 degree rounding error in sun angle calculations. Complete details are available in the updated LEDAPS Release Notes and the Surface Reflectance Product Guide.
- Effective January 16, 2013 – Source metadata included with Surface Reflectance Products.
  All source information is now included in Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) surface reflectance packages. Please review the LEDAPS 1.1.2 Release Notes and updated Surface Reflectance Product Guide for details.
- Effective January 3, 2013 –Surface Reflectance Collections Available on EarthExplorer.
  The Global Land Survey (GLS) collections from 2000, 2005, and 2010 have been processed to surface reflectance and are now accessible through EarthExplorer (EE), from the Landsat CDR/ECV data set. Download the GLS Collections Product Guide for collection details.
- Effective December 6, 2012 - Surface Reflectance Production beyond April 2012.
  An updated version of Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS 1.1.1) includes the most recent ancillary data available for atmospheric correction. Requests can now be made for data within one week of acquisition. Please review the LEDAPS 1.1.1 Release Notes and updated Surface Reflectance Product Guide for details.
- Effective November 27, 2012 - LEDAPS 1.1.0 Released.
  A new version of Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System (LEDAPS) code has been implemented for Landsat Surface Reflectance processing. Most noticeable will be a new metadata file name and corrected fill/gap labels in the quality assurance (QA) layers. Please review the LEDAPS 1.1.0 Release Notes for details.
- Effective October 25, 2012 - New Surface Reflectance Algorithms Released
  Landsat Ecosystem Disturbance Adaptive Processing System has been base-lined as LEDAPS 1.0.0. All surface reflectance produced from this date forward will be generated using updated software.
  Please review the LEDAPS 1.0.0 Release Notes for details.
- Effective October 15, 2012 - Global Land Survey (GLS) collections from 2010 and 2005 have been processed to surface reflectance and are available for discovery and download from the ESPA GLS Visualization Interface. (GLS 2000 will follow soon.) No registration is required.

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Surface Reflectance CDR
- Read the On-Demand Product Guide
- Read the Surface Reflectance through EarthExplorer Product Guide
- Read the GLS Collections Product Guide
- Read the LEDAPS Release Notes
- Read the Algorithm Description Document White Paper
- Download Global Land Survey (GLS) scenes processed to surface reflectance
- Request On-Demand Processing
- Download Data Tools
- Get Directions for a Bulk Download application
- Provide Feedback
- Contact User Services
Leaf Area Index ECV
- Read an overview
- Download sample data
- Provide Feedback
- Contact Us

Upcoming:

Land Surface Temperature CDR
Burned Area Extent ECV
Surface Water Extent ECV
Snow Covered Area ECV
Global Land Cover ECV