Landsat

Landsat is a joint program of Earth observation satellites operated by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earth’s land surfaces, starting from 1972 with the launch of ERTS-1 (later renamed Landsat 1).

Over the decades, a series of satellites (Landsat 1 through Landsat 9) have been launched, each improving the quality, coverage, and frequency of data. As of today, Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 are operational, delivering critical, consistent multispectral imagery used to monitor long-term changes in land use, agriculture, climate patterns, and natural disasters.

The program is also looking ahead with Landsat Next, the next-generation mission under the Sustainable Land Imaging (SLI) program, ensuring continuity of global land monitoring well into the future.

The Landsat archive offers a great value thanks to:

• Over five decades of consistent, calibrated Earth observation
• High-quality multispectral imagery suitable for detailed land use/land cover analysis, precision agriculture, forestry, hydrological modeling, and more
• Use in disaster management, monitoring of droughts, wildfires, floods, urban expansion, and glacier retreat
• Open access policy enabling global use in science, education, government policy, and commercial applications

Available Datasets

Landsat data is availibe by its distinctive mission with each satellite generation having its own distinct sensors. Those are:

• Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2 L1
• Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2 L2
• Landsat 7 ETM+ C2 L1
• Landsat 7 ETM+ C2 L2
• Landsat 4-5 TM C2 L1
• Landsat 4-5 TM C2 L2
• Landsat 1-5 MSS C2 L1

Data Acquisition and Redistribution at CESNET

Landsat data is regularly acquired for the Czech Republic national teritory using the following bounding box: 48.55, 12.09, 51.06, 18.87.

• Acquisition updates are checked daily at 9:00 UTC
• Review of data availability spans the last 30 days, ensuring all recent observations are ingested

All acquired data is processed and redistributed through a STAC catalog providing public access without authentication or registration:

1. Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2 L1
2. Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2 L2
3. Landsat 7 ETM+ C2 L1
4. Landsat 7 ETM+ C2 L2
5. Landsat 4-5 TM C2 L1
6. Landsat 4-5 TM C2 L2
7. Landsat 1-5 MSS C2 L1

More information about STAC can be found here and here.

Data Download and Access

The STAC API allows for both automated and interactive data discovery and download. Each dataset collection exposes its contents as a searchable list of “items”—individual scenes—accessible via STAC-compliant endpoints.

Each item includes:

• Metadata (sensor, acquisition date, cloud cover, etc.)
• Associated data files in .tar format
• Structured assets field including:
  • data – the tar archive containing imagery
  • mtl.xml – metadata

To retrieve item metadata or download imagery:

1. Via API:

Use the /items endpoint:

• Example: https://stac.cesnet.cz/collections/landsat_ot_c2_l1/items
• Default return: 20 items per call
• Adjust using:
  • ?limit=50 to return more items on one page (for example 50)
  • ?page=2 to paginate results

To download the actual image, navigate to the assets -> data -> href field.

Example:

• Item: LC09_L2SP_191025_20240412_02_T1
• Data link in: assets -> data -> href
• Metadata link in: assets -> mtl.xml -> href

2. Via Web Interface:

The STAC Browser offers a graphical overview:

• Example view: Landsat 8-9 OLI/TIRS C2 L1

License

All Landsat data is released under public domain and open access terms.

• NASA Landsat Science
• USGS FAQ