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ECCOE Landsat Quarterly Calibration and Validation Report—Quarter 4, 2025

Open-File Report 2026-1014
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https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20261014

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Executive Summary 

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote- sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team continually monitors the geometric and radiometric performance of active Landsat missions and makes calibration adjustments, as needed, to maintain data quality at the highest level.
This report provides observed geometric and radiometric analysis results for Landsats 8 and 9 for quarter 4 (October–December) of 2025. All data used to compile the Cal/Val analysis results presented in this report are freely available from the U.S. Geological Survey EarthExplorer website: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov.
One specific activity that the ECCOE Landsat Cal/Val Team closely monitored was a Landsat 9 safehold anomaly. On October 17, 2025, Landsat 9 experienced a Solar Array Drive Assembly potentiometer fault. The onboard fault response put both the Operational Land Imager sensor and the Thermal Infrared Sensor into safe mode. Additionally, the Thermal Infrared Sensor focal plane assembly was turned off, but the cryocooler remained on. On October 20, 2025, the Solar Array Drive Assembly recovery commanding was successfully performed to put the spacecraft into nadir viewing mode. The following day, Operational Land Imager activation and recovery started, including focal plane assembly warmup. After reaching nominal operational temperatures and achieving thermal stability, science imaging resumed on October 23, 2025. Additional information about the Landsat 9 safehold anomaly is here: https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/news/landsat-9-returns-normal-operations-following-brief-safehold.

Plain Language Summary

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation Center of Excellence Team assesses and calibrates Landsat remote-sensing data to ensure that high-quality data products are publicly available. These data products are used to make informed decisions about natural resources and the environment. This report is part of a series of quarterly reports intended to provide updated observed geometric and radiometric analysis results for Landsats 8 and 9.

Suggested Citation

Haque, M.O., Hasan, M.N., Shrestha, A., Rengarajan, R., Lubke, M., Steinwand, D., Bresnahan, P., Shaw, J.L., Ruslander, K., Micijevic, E., Choate, M.J., Anderson, C., Clauson, J., Thome, K., Angal, A., Levy, R., Miller, J., and Teixeira Pinto, C., 2026, ECCOE Landsat quarterly calibration and validation report—Quarter 4, 2025: U.S. Geological Survey Open- File Report 2026–1014, 57 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20261014.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Table of Contents

  • Executive Summary
  • Plain Language Summary
  • Introduction
  • Landsat 9 Radiometric Performance Summary
  • Landsat 9 Geometric Performance Summary
  • Landsat 8 Radiometric Performance Summary
  • Landsat 8 Geometric Performance Summary
  • Quarterly Level 2 Validation Results
  • Summary
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title ECCOE Landsat quarterly calibration and validation report—Quarter 4, 2025
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2026-1014
DOI 10.3133/ofr20261014
Publication Date May 18, 2026
Year Published 2026
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description Report: viii; 57 p.; Dataset
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Additional publication details