Rise of the Three Gorges Dam

False-color image, acquired on December 8, 2015, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, showing the extent of flooding in southeastern India after a deluge of rain a week earlier. The Somasila Reservoir and other water bodies in the region are significantly expanded compared to the image from October 21, 2015. || india_oli_2015342_after_print.jpg (1024x576) [243.7 KB] || india_oli_2015342_after.png (4096x2304) [18.0 MB] || india_oli_2015342_after_searchweb.png (320x180) [125.5 KB] || india_oli_2015342_after_thm.png (80x40) [7.1 KB] || southeast-india-flooding-dec-2015-after.hwshow [268 bytes] ||

This visualization shows a sequence of Landsat-based data in the Pacific Northwest. There is one data set for each year representing an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr. LandTrendr analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. The algorithm evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.In these false color images, the colors represent types of land; for example, blue areas are forests; orange/yellow areas are agriculture; and, purple areas are urban. Each 'stack' is representative of a Landsat scene. There are 22 stacks stitched together to cover most of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This processed data is used for science, natural resource management, and education.The visualization zooms into the Portland area showing different types of land such as agricultural, urban, and forests. We move south to a region that was evergreen forest for a number of years (blue), then was clear cut in 1999 (orange), then began to regrow (yellow). A graph shows the trajectories for a particular location in the clearcut as the years repeat. The dots represent the original data from Landsat; and, the line represents LandTrendr analysis. We move over to the Three Sisters region to show an area of pine forest that becomes infested with bark beetles in 2004. Next, we move to the southern foothills of Mount Hood where a budworm infestation is in progress; around 1991, the worms move on to another area and shrubs start to regrow. Next wemove to the east side of Mount Rainier National Park to see another budworm outbreak followed by shrub regrowth. Finally, we move to the west of Mount Rainier where we can see widespread clear cutting outside of the park, but no clear cutting inside the protected park land.Don't miss this related tour of the region. ||

A water-rich polka dot pattern takes over the traditional rectangular patchwork of fields in this 40 year sequence of Landsat images showing the dry Texas panhandle near the town of Dalhart. In this series, vegetation appears red and the bare soil of fallow fields or sparsely vegetated grasslands appear white to green. The blue-gray X near the center of the images marks the town of Dalhart. ||

Poplar Island is being rebuilt by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers using dredged mud from the Baltimore Harbor which lies about 30 miles (about 48 kilometers) north of the island. Reconstruction of the island began in 1998 with the erection of dikes to contain the mud.The growing island is a wildlife sanctuary, a hatchery for hundreds of diamondback terrapins and home to about 170 different species of birds including terns and bald eagles. NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat. The USGS preserves the archive of Landsat images and distributes all of the 40-years of Landsat data free over the Internet. ||

A combination of lightning, drought and human activity caused fires to scorch more than one-third of Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988. Within a year, burn scars cast a sharp outline on the 793,880 acres affected by fire, distinguishing wide sections of recovering forest, meadows, grasslands and wetlands from unburned areas of the park. After more than two decades, satellite instruments can still detect these scars from space.In the time-lapse video below, a series of false-color images collected by USGS-NASA Landsat satellites from 1987 to 2018 show the burning and gradual regeneration of Yellowstone's forests following the 1988 fire season. Watch as burn scars (dark red) quickly replace large expanses of healthy green vegetation (dark green) by 1989. Notice how the scars slowly fade over time as new vegetation begins to grow and heal the landscape.Landsat Project Scientist Jeff Masek has been studying the recovery of the forest after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. In the video below, he talks about how Landsat satellites detect the burn scars from space and distinguish them from healthy, un-burned forest and from new growth. ||

Forest fires and logging are the two main drivers of change in this area within Trinity National Forest in northern California. Roger Eckart and his siblings bought a grandfathered-in piece of private land within the forest in 1972, and so together the Eckart family and the Landsat program have observed changes in the forest for over 40 years. ||

This image from 2015, and the accompanying images from 1972, 1988, and 2011 show the transformation of Kansas farmland from dryland, rectangular fields to circular irrigated fields from center-pivot irrigation systems. The mining of ground water for agriculture has been a significant trend globally over the last half-century, and these images of a region in Kansas highlight the trend within the United States. || Garden_city_KS-2015_print.jpg (1024x975) [580.9 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015_searchweb.png (320x180) [147.7 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015_thm.png (80x40) [9.3 KB] || Garden_city_KS-2015.tif (3920x3736) [41.9 MB] ||

Mark Fahnestock, a scientist with the Geological Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has assembled annual mosaics of all the glaciers in Alaska and the Yukon using Landsat images going back to 1972. Using these mosaics, Mark is able to study glacier motion and speed.All music published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]: Inducing Waves, composer Ben Niblett [PRS] Jon Cotton [PRS]; Critical Pathway, composer Rik Carter [PRS]; Emerging Discovery, composer Rik Carter [PRS]Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print.jpg (1920x1080) [1.0 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print_searchweb.png (320x180) [135.5 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers_mosaic_print_thm.png (80x40) [9.0 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.mov (1920x1080) [4.3 GB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.mp4 (1920x1080) [516.6 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers.webm (1920x1080) [38.7 MB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers-captions.en_US.srt [5.9 KB] || 13492_Alaska_Glaciers-captions.en_US.vtt [5.9 KB] ||

The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, nearly as big as the continental United States. But every year, less of that forest is still standing. Today's deforestation across the Amazon frontier is tractors and bulldozers clearing large swaths to make room for industrial-scale cattle ranching and crops. Landsat satellite data is used to map land cover in Brazil with a historical perspective, going back to 1984.Music: Organic Circuit by Richard Birkin [PRS]; Into the Atmosphere by Sam Joseph Delves [PRS]; Ethereal Journey by Noé Bailleux [SACEM]; Wildfires by Magnum Opus [ASCAP]; Letter For Tomorrow by Anthony d’Amario [SACEM].Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || Amazon_clearing_poster.jpg (3840x2160) [2.4 MB] || Amazon_clearing_DSC_1491.jpg (6000x4000) [5.3 MB] || Amazon_clearing_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [88.6 KB] || Amazon_clearing_poster_thm.png (80x40) [5.8 KB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_yt.mp4 (1920x1080) [417.9 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_tw.mp4 (1280x720) [89.4 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation_yt.webm (1920x1080) [45.5 MB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation-captions.en_US.srt [7.1 KB] || 13694_Amazon_deforestation-captions.en_US.vtt [6.9 KB] ||

This visualization shows a sequence of Landsat-based data in the Pacific Northwest. There is one data set for each year representing an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr. LandTrendr analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. The algorithm evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.In these false color images, the colors represent types of land; for example, blue areas are forests; orange/yellow areas are agriculture; and, purple areas are urban. Each 'stack' is representative of a Landsat scene. There are 22 stacks stitched together to cover most of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. This processed data is used for science, natural resource management, and education.We move in to the southwest corner of the data set near Redwood National Park and proceed on a slow tour through a portion of the data set. Time loops from 1984 through 2011 as we move. We move over to Mount Shasta, then up the Cascade Range, passing Crater Lake National Park, the Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood, Mount Saint Helens, Mount Adams, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, and the North Cascades National Park. Next we move west over Seattle and pass over Olympic National Park, then we head back south down the Willamette Valley back to Redwood National Park.Don't miss this related narrated visualization ||