Earth Explorer

USGS Earth Explorer (earthexplorer.usgs.gov) is the U.S. Geological Survey's primary portal for accessing its extensive archive of satellite imagery, aerial photography, and remote sensing data collected over decades. The database includes Landsat imagery, commercial satellite data, aerial survey photography, and specialized remote sensing products covering the entire globe.

For OSINT investigators conducting geospatial analysis, Earth Explorer provides access to historical satellite imagery that significantly predates what is available through commercial platforms like Google Earth or Planet Labs. Landsat imagery dating back to the 1970s allows investigators to observe land use changes, infrastructure development, facility expansion, and environmental changes over multi-decade timeframes.

Historical satellite imagery analysis is directly applicable in investigations involving: tracking the development timeline of specific facilities (airfields, warehouses, industrial sites), establishing when significant changes occurred at target locations, comparing current and historical states of a site as part of environmental or infrastructure analysis, and verifying historical claims about the existence or configuration of specific physical features.

Earth Explorer also provides access to higher-resolution commercial satellite imagery products and specialized data such as elevation models (DEM data), thermal infrared imagery, and hyperspectral data. These specialized datasets support advanced geospatial analysis beyond simple visual inspection.

The portal's search interface allows investigators to specify geographic bounding boxes, date ranges, cloud cover thresholds, and sensor types, enabling targeted retrieval of imagery relevant to a specific investigation period and location.

For time-series analysis, investigators can order multiple Landsat scenes covering the same area at different dates, then compare them to identify changes. This technique is standard practice in environmental monitoring and can be adapted for facility tracking investigations.

Account registration is required for downloading imagery, though browsing and preview are available without registration. Many products are free for download.

Document the scene IDs, acquisition dates, sensor types, and geographic coverage for all Earth Explorer imagery used in investigation reports.