EROS Hosts Inaugural 2026-2030 Landsat Science Team Meeting
The 2026-2030 Landsat Science Team convened for its first in-person meeting from May 5 to 7, 2026, at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The event was co-moderated by Chris Neigh, Project Scientist for Landsat 8, 9, and 10.
Meeting Structure and Participants
- Attendees included team members representing funded, international, and federal programs.
- Participants shared current work and visions for the future of the Landsat program.
- Status updates were provided on the Landsat 10 project, Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) data products, and Collection 3 (C3) plans.
The meeting concluded with breakout sessions focused on four technical areas:
Surface Reflectance
- Priorities identified: topography and adjacency corrections, BRDF correction, enhanced cloud masking.
- Recommendations: Incorporate CMIX2 cloud masking into future collections; map C3 toolkit dependencies for user-applied corrections.
Temperature and Emissivity
- Discussion centered on maintaining archive consistency.
- Recommended maintaining native resolution or standardizing to 60 meters; additional testing for volcano studies.
- Endorsed using ASTER GED/CAMEL emissivity datasets; prepare for Landsat 10's five thermal bands via ECOSTRESS comparison.
- Called for better quantification of atmospheric inputs' impact on harmonization through collaboration between JPL, RIT, and EROS.
Aquatic Reflectance
- Raised concerns that Landsat 10's 18-day repeat cycle limits monitoring of dynamic processes like harmful algal blooms.
- Called for increased investment in validation infrastructure for inland waters, coordinated with CEOS.
- Advised against pixelwise algorithm switching to prevent data discontinuities; emphasized compliance with CEOS Aquatic Reflectance V2.0 standards.
Projections, Tiling, and the Pixel
- Endorsed USGS pixel grid nesting plan (10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 120 meters).
- Recommended further trade analysis to optimize pixel replication errors, manage storage costs, and coordinate with Sentinel-2 Next Generation.
- Suggested maintaining Collection 2 approach (UTM and polar stereographic) if grid issues remain unresolved, while refining Analysis Ready Data (ARD) products for CONUS, Hawaii, and Alaska.