Landsat 8 Data Now Available on Amazon AWS

Last month Amazon announced the release of Landsat 8 data on its AWS S3 platform. The data are freely available in GeoTiff format and are not subject to any restrictions on use. The imagery is updated on a 16 day cycle and is available on AWS within hours of reception by USGS.

All of the scenes from 2015 are available, along with a selection of scenes from 2013 and 2014. For those interested in downloading the data (no Amazon account required), each scene’s directory includes the following:

• a .TIF GeoTIFF for each of the scene’s up to 12 bands
• .TIF.ovr overview file for each .TIF
• a _MTL.txt metadata file
• a small rgb preview jpeg, 3 percent of the original size
• a larger rgb preview jpeg, 15 percent of the original size
• an index.html file including the RGB preview and links to the GeoTIFFs and metadata files

As a partner in the initiative to provide easier access to the imagery, Esri has created a set of Landsat Web Services that are available through ArcGIS Online. The services provide dynamic access to the entire collection of Landsat 8 data on AWS.  The web services show one Landsat 8 service that has a subset of the Landsat 8 imagery. If you are interested in downloading more, see the “downloading” link  here.

Cambridge Gulf in Australia