Landsat Timelines, 1973 to Present
Landsat has photographed the same ground every 16 to 18 days since 1972, the longest continuous record of Earth's surface from space. These are its monthly low-cloud mosaics for a few places in Washington and Southern California.
Watch Mount St. Helens lose its summit in 1980, the gray ash field slowly green over, glaciers on Rainier and Baker shrink, and farmland around San Diego fill with houses.
Drag the timeline, or use ← → (shift jumps a year) and space to play.
Drag the timeline or press play. Swipe the place names to switch sites.
How these are made
- 1973 to 1984: Landsat 1 to 5 MSS, 60 m, top-of-atmosphere reflectance. MSS has no blue band, so color is simulated from green and near-infrared.
- 1982 to present: Landsat 4/5 TM, 7 ETM+ and 8/9 OLI surface reflectance at 30 m, true color. Landsat 7 is dropped after its scan line corrector failed in 2003, so 2012 to early 2013 is mostly empty.
- Each month mosaics the clearest scenes using the per-pixel cloud mask; months without enough clear coverage are skipped, as are frames much brighter than their neighbors in time (missed cloud).
- Every frame uses the same fixed stretch, so brightness changes over time are real. Glacier sites use a brighter stretch so ice keeps its texture; try Late summer only there, when seasonal snow is at its minimum.
Location
Playback
Timeline
MSS, simulated color
TM / ETM+ / OLI, true color
Event
Month
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Sensor
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Acquisitions
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Coverage
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USGS Landsat Collection 2
via Microsoft Planetary Computer
via Microsoft Planetary Computer