The Land Processed Distributed Active Archive Center, or LP DAAC, operates as a partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It has been located as the USGS Earth Resources Observation & Science Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota since 1990 and is one of the DAACs within NASA's Earth Observing System Data & Information System.

The LP DAAC ingests and archives a public collection of high quality remote sensing data derived from a number of sensors aboard Earth-observing satellites, the International Space Station, space shuttles, and other aircraft. When data are received from producers, they are reviewed for quality, stored in the archive, and made available for distribution. These data products are useful to a large and diverse user community, including NASA Principal Investigators, research scientists, land managers, and users worldwide for a wide variety of applications such as researching the impacts of land use change, identifying impacts of natural disasters, and exploring trends in vegetation health.

The LP DAAC bridges the gap between its data products and a global user community, through technological  innovation, user support, and outreach activities. A diverse team of over 40 scientists, engineers, communicators, and support staff continues to earn above average marks in customer satisfaction.

NASA and the USGS first announced their plans to establish the LP DAAC at the USGS EROS Center in 1990. Over the next decade, staff laid the technical and physical foundation for a new archive center. As the archive grew through the 2000s, improvements in data storage, management, and delivery methods were implemented. By 2020, the LP DAAC had archived more than 3 petabytes of data while continually improving its technical capabilities and scientific relevance. 30 years after its inception, the LP DAAC continues to grow.

The current archive holds 3.6 petabytes of data, and has distributed 8 times its total volume to users. In 2019, the data was accessed by over 60,000 unique users. The LP DAAC distributes more than 350 distinct data products including ECOSTRESS, S-NPP NASA VIIRS, Terra and Aqua MODIS, Terra ASTER, NASA MEaSUREs, GEDI, and more, all at no charge to the user.

The LP DAAC is proud to host data products from NASA's Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments projects which provide an opportunity for the research community to participate in the development and genereation of data products which compliment and augment the Earth science data already available to researchers.

Community data products are also a valued part of the archive where science investigators have submitted proposals to have their products archived and distributed by the LP DAAC.

With the future addition of NOAA-20, HLS, and EMIT to the archive, the LP DAAC continues its commitment to new data products and missions.

As part of its commitment to the user community, the LP DAAC develops and supports a number of tools to increase data accessibility. AppEEARS, NASA's Earthdata Search, the USGS's Earth Explorer, Data Pool, and the DAAC2Disk Utility are just a few.

The team also engages in digital outreach efforts to inform and interact with users, through Data in Action stories, publications, data visualizations, social media, webinars, tutorials, and videos.

These activities extend to hands-on workshops, events, meetings, and conferences where LP DAAC staff can interact directly with users.

Every year, the LP DAAC sees new innovations, new data products, and new opportunities to connect with users.

Looking ahead through 2021, a number of data product additions and releases are planned. The LP DAAC team looks forward to supporting them all. Thanks for watching.