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By the end of December of 2008, both incoming Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data and all Landsat 5 TM data acquired by the USGS since launch (1984) will become available, with all Landsat 4 TM (1982-1985) and Landsat 1-5 Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) (1972-1994) data becoming available by the end of January 2009. All Landsat data purchasing options from the USGS will be discontinued by February 2009, once the entire Landsat archive can be accessed at no charge.
Using satellite imagery to measure plant biomass, a team of crop scientists has demonstrated an ability to forecast yields of various crops much sooner than traditional methods, and with considerable accuracy, announced Planalytics, Inc. as they introduced their new GreenReport E-newsletter. The first winter wheat forecast for 2008 was produced on March 21st. By using satellite imagery instead of traditional sampling techniques, crop yield forecasts can be generated up to two months before USDA estimates, and because they are based on images that are constantly being downloaded from the satellite, these forecasts can be updated every two weeks throughout the growing season. Compared to initial USDA forecasts or normalized trends, the TMAI/KARS forecast models have been shown to be consistently more accurate in recent years.
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Dr.
Hrishikesh Samant