Registering For Accounts

These resources use satellite data from a variety of sources. To prepare for each

USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center¶

The [EarthExplorer](https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ portal, hosted by the US Geological Survey, is a convenient tool to search for available Landsat imagery (as well as data from a variety of other satellites). To access data from this tool, register for an account on the EROS Registration System. The accounts are free – just sign up with your institutional email HERE.

NASA Earthdata¶

NASA provides access to a wide range of satellite data through Earthdata. To access these resources, create an account HERE.

Setting Up a netrc File on MacOS¶

On a mac, open up the Terminal from the Utilities menu. To use the automatic Earthdata download tools from PODAAC, the first thing we will need to do is store our Earthdata credentials in our home directory. You can find this directory on a Mac using the following command in the terminal:

echo $HOME

Once you have identified your home directory, create a .netrc file in that directory using the following command:

open -a TextEdit .netrc

Inside this file, add the following contents:

machine urs.earthdata.nasa.gov
    login <your username>
    password <your password>

Note that this the second two lines should be indented by 4 spaces and the <> symbols should not be present around your username and password.

Finally, be sure this file cannot be read by anyone else using the following command:

chmod 700 .netrc

Setting Up a netrc File on Windows¶

On Windows, open up the Windows Powershell from the Start menu. To use the download tools, the first thing we will need to do is store our Earthdata credentials in our home directory. You can find this directory on a Windows using the following command in your shell:

echo $HOME.

You can be sure you are in your home directory by typing pwd and ensuring that the path matches the output of the previous command. Once you have identified your home directory, create a netrc file in that directory. Create this file by typing the following command in your shell:

notepad.exe .netrc

Inside this file, add the following contents:

machine urs.earthdata.nasa.gov
    login <your username>
    password <your password>

Note that this the second two lines should be indented by 4 spaces and the <> symbols should not be present around your username and password.

Next type dir and ensure you can see your .netrc file in the list of files. If it has a .txt extension, rename it to remove the extension with the following command:

mv .netrc.txt .netrc