WELDUSMO.015: CONUS Landsat 30m Monthly Composites (2002-2012)

NASA's Web-Enabled Landsat Data (WELD) provides monthly 30-meter resolution mosaics of the conterminous United States and Alaska from December 2002 through November 2012. The dataset includes Top of Atmosphere Reflectance, Brightness Temperature, and a derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat ETM+ sensors. This consistent, composited data supports regional assessments of land surface dynamics and Earth system function.

Use Cases

• Monitoring vegetation health and phenology based on monthly NDVI composites.
• Analyzing land surface temperature trends using the Brightness Temperature data.
• Deriving land cover and biophysical products from consistent Top of Atmosphere Reflectance mosaics.
• Conducting regional assessments of surface dynamics over a decade-long time series.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent, decade-long time series from December 2002 to November 2012.
• Offers 30-meter spatial resolution, which is detailed for regional land assessments.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov indicates established importance and curation.

Limitations

• Dataset was decommissioned in December 2019; users are directed to newer GWELD versions.
• Specific column names and total row/file counts are not provided in the available metadata.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2012-11-30 vs. 2026-04-09) create uncertainty about metadata freshness.

Provenance

Source

A collaboration between NASA, the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, and the South Dakota State University (SDSU) Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence.

Collection Method

Generated from composited Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) mosaics.

Time Range

December 2002 to November 2012

Freshness

The dataset's final observation period ended in November 2012, and it was decommissioned in 2019. Metadata records show conflicting last-updated timestamps.

Geography

Conterminous United States (CONUS) and Alaska