In the spring of 2019, exceptional rain flooded fields in Missouri and many other states. With field observations and surveys disrupted, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) turned to Landsat to see which fields were underwater, which had been planted, and how crop estimates had changed. It is one of several ways the satellites serve the "Show Me State."
Landsat 8 images of farmland north of St. Louis on May 7, September 12 and October 14, 2019, after the spring floods: bright green is growing vegetation, light brown harvested fields and darker brown fallow fields. Image: NASA.
Missouri at a glance
Missouri is one of only two states that border eight others. It lies in the heart of the country and has long connected East and West: the Pony Express and the Oregon, Santa Fe and California Trails all began there. Farms and forests, big rivers and lakes, and cities of culture and industry define it.
Three uses
| Use | What Landsat does |
|---|---|
| Farming and floods | NASS derives crop statistics from satellite data, field observations and surveys, helping producers make informed decisions; in the 2019 floods, Landsat filled the gap when fieldwork could not |
| Forests | forests cover about a third of Missouri, including more than a dozen oak species that support timber (for products from flooring to barrels), recreation and tourism. The State Forestry Division uses imagery to track rapid white oak (Quercus alba) mortality and the slower oak decline |
| Urban sprawl | the University of Missouri's Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership (MoRAP), which brings together state and federal agencies including the USGS, used Landsat to analyze sprawl in several Missouri cities and help planners reduce its harm |
Why Landsat
- It is the most widely used land remote sensing data source in federal civilian agencies, and local, state and Tribal agencies rely on it too.
- Landsat 8 and 9 image Earth's land every 8 days, extending a record of about 50 years — the longest of Earth's land surface.
- The data are free, through the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, funded by the National Land Imaging Program.
- A 2017 USGS study put Landsat's annual economic benefit in the United States at $2.06 billion, far more than it costs to build and run.
- NASA and the USGS were reviewing an architecture study to shape Landsat Next, the mission to follow Landsat 9.
Sources
Based on the USGS fact sheet "Missouri and Landsat," a work of the United States government in the public domain. It cites Gran (2019) on the 2019 floods, the National Association of State Foresters (2018), MoRAP (2022) and Straub and others (2019). The Landsat image is reproduced from the fact sheet.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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