Just got word from our colleague Gary Geller at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory about a new source of free, full-resolution, multi-decade satellite imagery: TerraLook, from the US Geological Survey. The great thing about this site is the images are provided in JPEG format, a standard graphic that can be displayed using most office software and picture viewers. You can choose Landsat and ASTER satellite images from the 1970s up through the 2000s. Delivery is via FTP (no more messy CDs to deal with!).

For those of you interested in foolin’ around with image processing and GIS mapmaking, you can also download free TerraLook software.

We’ve just ordered a set of images from the Upper Green River Valley area of western Wyoming; we’ll let you know how this new data source works out.