Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2

Generating global land surface reflectance data every 2 to 3 days at 30 meter resolution

IMPACT’s HLS project takes input data from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) aboard the joint NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite and the Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) aboard Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B satellites to generate a harmonized analysis-ready data product. This improves the temporal resolution of these sensors when independently used. Other publicly available land surface observation data requires the science user community to pick between high resolution data available every 1-2 weeks or coarser resolution data available every day. By harmonizing observations from platforms with similar instrument characteristics, IMPACT’s HLS project team provides a unique opportunity for the science community to access higher resolution observations every 2-4 days on an analysis-ready grid. HLS data products greatly improve upon current capabilities for applied science initiatives related to natural disasters, land cover/land use change, seasonal vegetation health, and others.

The Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) project delivers the following benefits:

Production of HLS data for global land coverage

The HLS data production team at IMPACT has refactored and expanded the algorithm to include global land coverage. Landsat and Sentinel-2 data received by ground stations is ingested into this optimized algorithm producing forward data to the HLSL30 and HLSS30 data products.

Processing of historic HLS data for the duration of Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2 satellite platforms

A primary benefit of analysis-ready HLS data products is the ability to use them to examine land surface changes at the plot scale (30-meter resolution) over time. To maximize the usefulness of HLS data for the land surface community, Landsat 8 data has been generated from April 2013 to present. Historical data processing (i.e. backward processing) leverages the updated global algorithm to develop a full global archive of HLSL30 and HLSS30 data products.

Recent Accomplishments

EOSDIS Worldview is now live.

EOSDIS Worldview is an open source code app from NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). The app, usable on both smartphone and tablet, gives users the ability to interactively browse 1000+ global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and download the underlying data. Many of the imagery layers are updated daily and are available within three hours of observation, supporting time-critical applications such as wildfire management. EOSDIS Worldview uses Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) to rapidly retrieve its imagery and OpenLayers as its mapping library.

Check it out here.

In the News

HLS Dataset Aids Hurricane Ian Recovery Efforts

IBM AI Helps NASA Researchers Mine Earth Data

Presentations and publications

"The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 surface reflectance data set" in Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 219, Dec. 2018

Tools and links

HLS Science Team Page (GSFC)

HLSL30 Dataset Landing Page

HLSS30 Dataset Landing Page

The IMPACT HLS team consists of Earth and atmospheric scientists, computer scientists, and informatics specialists with expertise in the use and production of Earth science datasets. In addition, the team includes developers specializing in cloud computing