GLOBE Expands Its Reach with Landsat Land Cover Comparisons — A NASA Science Update
The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program has introduced a new feature that directly links citizen scientists to Landsat observations. Volunteers worldwide gather environmental data to support Earth system science, including land-cover data. When participants submit land-cover observations through GLOBE, they can include landscape photos and a land-cover classification, creating a rich, ground-truth dataset.
Starting in September, volunteers will receive an email that compares their land-cover findings with Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for the same location and time period. This side-by-side comparison helps merge space-based remote sensing with on-the-ground observations, building on GLOBE’s long-running success pairing ground observations with satellite data for weather and cloud studies.
Why Add Land Cover to GLOBE?
Land-cover information is fundamental for understanding and managing our environment. It supports risk assessments for natural hazards like floods, wildfires, and landslides. It also enables scientists to monitor how land-use changes over time and to map wildlife habitats with greater detail. Landsat remains a central dataset for many national and global land-cover products, including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD).
GLOBE’s land-cover effort invites participants ranging from high school students to university researchers to contribute to our evolving picture of Earth’s changing surface.
For more details about Landsat’s new role in GLOBE, see GLOBE’s feature article or explore the GLOBE Land Cover information pages.
