U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2013–3003

January 2013

What is the Economic Value of Satellite Imagery?

The value of remote-sensing information,

such as that from Landsat and similar Earthobserving satellites, has been expressed in 

many different ways—advances in science, 

innovations in technology, and cost savings. 

Recently, in a case study in a 35-county region 

in northeastern Iowa, U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) scientists demonstrated that Landsat imagery and other moderate-resolution 

land-imagery (MRLI) would have significant 

economic value when used in combination 

with Earth-science information, such as enviThis image shows the next satellite in the Landsat Program, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, 

scheduled to launch in February 2013. The U.S. Geological Survey and NASA jointly manage the Landsat 

Program. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information about Earth from space. This 

science, known as remote sensing, has matured with the Landsat Program and provides information 

crucial to evaluating the dynamic changes caused by both natural processes and human practices. 

(Modified NASA image.)

Landsat image within a 35-county region in Iowa 

studied by the U.S. Geological Survey. Acquired in 

2007 at the peak of the U.S. midwestern growing 

season, this image shows healthy cropland (corn 

and soybeans) in greens, cleared and developed 

land in pinks, and water bodies (ponds and the 

Iowa River) in dark tones. Each pixel in the image 

covers an area of 30 by 30 meters of the ground. 

(USGS image.)

ronmental, geologic, and ground and surface 

water data, to monitor agricultural production 

and protect groundwater resources.

Agriculture and Groundwater 

Resources in Northeastern Iowa

Representative of many agricultural States 

in our Nation’s heartland, Iowa produces 

significant crops of both corn and soybeans. 

Iowa also produces about 30 percent of the 

Nation’s ethanol, much of which is generated from corn. Corn and other agricultural 

production often includes heavy application 

of nitrogenous fertilizer that can degrade 

groundwater quality. In Iowa, more than 

80 percent of the population depends on 

groundwater for their drinking water. The 

northeastern Iowa study region includes more 

than 600 watersheds, more than 30,000 wells, 

and two primary aquifers.

USGS scientists modeled the relations 

among land uses, agricultural production, and 

dynamic nitrate (NO3

-

) contamination of aquifers in the northeastern Iowa study region. 

The USGS study sought to inform decisions 

about public health regulations by identifying changes in the distribution of agricultural 

production that would increase the value of 

crops without sacrificing groundwater quality. 

The analysis focused on the use of MRLI to 

balance the management of the production of 

corn and soybeans against the risk of exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s 

maximum contaminant level of nitrate for 

potable groundwater resources.

The scientists used Earth observations and 

other scientific information in an integrated 

D

similar Earth-observing satellites, 

provide economic benefits to society, 

and can this value be estimated? Using 

satellite data for northeastern Iowa, U.S. 

Geological Survey scientists modeled 

the relations among land uses, agricultural production, and dynamic nitrate 

(NO3

-

) contamination of aquifers. They 

demonstrated that information from 

such modeling can allow more efficient 

management of agricultural production 

without sacrificing groundwater quality. 

Just for northeastern Iowa, the value of 

such remote-sensing information was 

shown to be as much as $858 million 

± $197 million per year, which corresponds to a current value of $38.1 billion 

± $8.8 billion for that flow of benefits 

into the foreseeable future.

oes remote-sensing information, 

such as that from Landsat and 
Additional Reading

Forney, W.M., Raunikar, R.P., Bernknopf, R.L., 

and Mishra, S.K., 2012, An economic 

value of remote-sensing information—

Application to agricultural production and 

maintaining groundwater quality: U.S. 

Geological Survey Professional Paper 

1796, 60 p., available at http://pubs.usgs.

gov/pp/1796/.

Miller, H.M., Sexton, N.R., Koontz, L., 

Loomis, J., Koontz, S.R., and Hermans, 

C., 2011, The users, uses, and value of 

Landsat and other moderate-resolution 

satellite imagery in the United States—

Executive report: U.S. Geological Survey 

Open-File Report 2011–1031, 48 p., available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1031/.

Ronald P. Raunikar, William M. Forney, and

Susan P. Benjamin

Edited by James W. Hendley II

Graphic design by 

Judy Weathers and Vivian Nguyen

COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

For more information contact:

Susan Benjamin

U.S. Geological Survey

Western Geographic Science Center

345 Middlefield Road

Menlo Park, CA 94025

(650) 329-5049

sbenjamin@usgs.gov

http://geography.wr.usgs.gov/

This Fact Sheet 

and any updates to it 

are available online at

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2013/3003/

Using cropland information derived from Landsat and similar Earthobserving satellites, U.S. Geological Survey scientists modeled the 

relations among land uses, agricultural production, and dynamic nitrate (NO3

-

) contamination of aquifers 

in northeastern Iowa. Corn is a primary crop of Iowa (USGS photo). Its production often includes heavy 

application of nitrogenous fertilizer that can affect groundwater quality. In Iowa, groundwater pumped 

from aquifers, and often stored in water towers (inset; Iowa Department of Natural Resources photo), is 

used as the source for drinking water by as many as 80 percent of residents. 

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Year

With MRLI

Without MRLI

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Corn and soybean crop value, 

in billions of 2010 dollars

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Bar graph showing the annual 

flow of economic benefits 

(2001–2010) with and without 

the availability of moderateresolution land imagery (MRLI) 

for the 35-county northeastern 

Iowa region used as a case 

study by the U.S. Geological 

Survey. For northeastern Iowa, 

the economic value of the MRLI 

(in 2010 dollars) used for the 

study is estimated to be $858 

million ± $197 million per year, 

which corresponds to a current 

value of $38.1billion ± $8.8 billion 

for that flow of benefits into the 

foreseeable future. 

assessment approach to demonstrate the 

usefulness and relevance of MRLI and 

applied economic, agricultural production, 

hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and nitrogen 

loading and dynamics models to estimate a 

value of information (VOI) for MRLI. 

A VOI analysis is a comparison of what can 

be accomplished with higher quality information versus what can be accomplished 

without it. The integrated assessment approach uses MRLI as an improved, more 

comprehensive source of information for the 

land uses in a region. As its source of interpreted MRLI data, the USGS study used the 

Cropland Data Layer (CDL) classified by the 

National Agricultural Statistics Service, for 

the period 2001 to 2010. 

The Value of Satellite Imagery

The results of the USGS study include 

(1) geospatial models that integrate remote 

sensing, hydrology, agricultural information, 

and other environmental science data to estimate levels of nitrate pollution, (2) estimates 

of the likelihood of the long-term survival of 

potable groundwater resources, and (3) VOI 

estimates for remote sensing from increasing the total value of the regional corn and 

soybean crops. The economic value of the 

MRLI (in 2010 dollars) used for the northeastern Iowa study region is estimated to be 

$858 million ± $197 million per year, which 

corresponds to a current value of $38.1 billion ± $8.8 billion for that flow of benefits 

into the foreseeable future. If such estimated 

benefits from the use of satellite imagery 

were to be expanded to the rest of the United 

States, the economic value to the Nation 

would be enormous.

 In this case study, the U.S. Geological 

Survey demonstrated the economic value of 

remote-sensing data by using improved agricultural production and nitrate-leaching estimates 

made possible by Earth-observing satellites, 

such as Landsat. The USGS and NASA jointly 

manage the Landsat Program. The Landsat 

Data Continuity Mission, the next satellite in the 

Landsat Program, is scheduled to launch in February 2013. The research described here is only 

one example of the potential range of uses and 

values of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission 

and is one part of the USGS’s mission to provide reliable scientific information to describe 

and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life 

and property from natural disasters; manage 

water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; 

and enhance and protect our quality of life.