Landsat 7 - Ground Segment Activities At The German Remote Sensing Data Center

The Landsat Program has continuously provided data to a broad user community since 1972. With the successful launch of Landsat 7 on April 15, 1999 the availability of Landsat data will be continued and essentially extended by its Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) instrument. The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) will operate a Landsat 7 International Ground Station in Europe as part of the Earthnet Programme of the European Space Agency ESA and at other locations world-wide. The paper gives an overview on the present status of the Landsat 7 ground segment at the DFD. The main mission and sensor characteristics are briefly explained. The role of the DFD as Landsat 7 ground station including data acquisition, product generation and distribution is outlined and the DFD's data utilization concept is described. The Scientific Data Pool as central part of the DFD strategy to support research and pilot applications is explained. 1 INTRODUCTION Dating back to the launch of Landsat ..