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The Launch of the Next Landsat
Released: 02/05/2013
The Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the next generation Landsat satellite, is scheduled for launch at 10:02 am PST on Monday February 11, 2013.
Savanna Fires
Released: 01/25/2013
In the summer of 2012 a series of fires burned the Cerrado savanna in northeastern Brazil. Landsat imagery illustrate conditions before, during, and after the fires.
Brush Fires in Tasmania
Released: 01/14/2013
Extremely hot and dry weather in southern Australia has led to a number of brush fires. On the island of Tasmania, south of the Australian continent, fires that started in early 2013 have already burned over 148,000 acres.
Urban Growth: The Minnesota Twin Cities
Released: 12/27/2012
Data acquired over the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1988 and 2011 illustrate the expansion of the population centers in a major economic region of the Upper Midwest.
Mar Chiquita change over time
Released: 12/11/2012
Mar Chiquita is the largest of the naturally occurring saline lakes in Argentina. The feeder systems for the lake include the Dulce River from the north, and the Primero/Suquia and Segundo/Xanaes Rivers from the south.
Lake Ayakkum
Released: 11/21/2012
Many closed basin saline lakes in Central Asia have been shrinking. Lake Ayakkum, however, has been growing, as shown in these Landsat images acquired in 1992, 2003, and 2012.
Al Farafra Oasis
Released: 11/14/2012
The Al Farafra Oasis has resulted in a greening of the desert in western Egypt. Unlike many newly developed agricultural efforts, these fields are not based on deep-well irrigation, but on surface water associated with the oasis.
Future of 90-year old Yosemite Reservoir in Question
Released: 10/29/2012
Landsat imagery from 1985 and 2011 show the areas and water fluctuations of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (long water body on the right side of the image), along with Cherry Lake (far left) and Lake Eleanor (central), which are also reservoirs for the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir System.
Lake Étang Saumâtre and Lake Lago Enriquillo
Released: 10/04/2012
Étang Saumâtre and Lago Enriquillo are saline lakes found in Hispaniola's rift valley along the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These three Landsat images from 1986, 2004, and 2012 show how dramatically the lake levels can fluctuate.
Creek County, Oklahoma fire
Released: 09/28/2012
A large grass fire that started August 2 burned over 58,000 acres of grassland and destroyed over 380 homes in Creek County, Oklahoma. Residents of small towns in the path of the fire were evacuated in this drought stricken area west of the city of Tulsa.
The Lakes of Eastern Day County, South Dakota
Released: 09/20/2012
In the past 20 years, lake waters have been swallowing up land, roads, and homes in Day County, located in the northeastern corner of South Dakota.
Hurricane Isaac Flooding
Released: 09/07/2012
Landsat satellite data, acquired and processed by the U.S. Geological Survey, illustrate the effects of Hurricane Isaac on land between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain northwest of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mississippi River Level Dropping
Released: 08/31/2012
The 2012 drought, which has affected much of the cropland in the Midwest and the western United States, has also had a major effect on the level of the Mississippi River. The diminishing flow of the river has delayed barge traffic and movement of cargoes to ports at the lower mouth of the river
Western Fires
Released: 08/24/2012
Fires continue to destroy residences, grassland cover, and forests in the western United States. Landsat images, acquired and processed by the U.S. Geological Survey, illustrate the damage caused by fires in the Nevada/Oregon border region.
Effects of Drought
Released: 08/16/2012
As the largest interior marsh in the United States, Cheyenne Bottoms provides a resting place for millions of migrating birds every fall. As the water levels dwindle and disappear, wildlife officials are concerned that the effects could be devastating for the habitat.
Wildfires in Oklahoma
Released: 08/08/2012
In late July, a large fire developed in the Creek County area in northeastern Oklahoma. Within days, over 91 square miles were burned and a number of residents in Mannford and Kellyville were evacuated.
Mount St. Helens
Released: 08/06/2012
Landsat images of the Mount St. Helens region in southwestern Washington illustrate the conditions before, shortly after, and decades after the eruptions of the Mount St. Helens volcano in 1980.
Manila, Philippines
Released: 07/27/2012
The Philippine capital of Manila, situated on the eastern shore of Manila Bay, is the most densely populated city in the world, with over 1.6 million inhabitants in an area covering 38.5 square kilometers; the greater metro area covers 638 square kilometers, with a population of over 11 million.
40 years of recording change
Released: 07/23/2012
On July 23, the Landsat system celebrated 40 years of continuous observations of the land forms of the planet. Over 7 million separate scenes have been collected by the six satellites in the series.
Western wildfires
Released: 07/16/2012
Wildfires are doing severe damage in a number of western U.S. states. Extremely dry conditions, stiff winds, unusually warm weather, and trees killed by pine bark beetle outbreaks have created a situation in which major fires thrive.
Agriculture transforms Egyptian Desert
Released: 07/09/2012
These Landsat images, acquired in 1984 and again in 2012, show in green the expanding agricultural areas in the Natron Valley in Egypt.
Missouri River near Omaha, NE - one year after flooding
Released: 07/06/2012
These Landsat images show the Omaha, Nebraska area during the flooding in June 2011, and again recently on June 8, 2012.
High Park Fire, Colorado
Released: 06/25/2012
Sparked by lightning on June 9, 2012, the High Park Fire has burned over 58,000 acres near and in Roosevelt National Forest, just west of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Leslie Street Spit and Tommy Thompson Park
Released: 06/15/2012
Tommy Thompson Park is located on Leslie Street Spit, a man-made peninsula that extends about 3 miles into Lake Ontario. The park was established on the spit in 1995 and provides critical habitat for many birds and animals as well as aquatic species.
Mirani Dam
Released: 06/08/2012
The Mirani Dam is located on the Dasht River in southern Pakistan. Though the dam provides a constant supply of water for irrigation and human consumption, heavy rains in 2007 raised the reservoir to 271 feet, and over 15,000 people were displaced when a number of small communities were flooded.
Elwha River restoration
Released: 06/01/2012
Landsat imagery acquired in 2011 and 2012 illustrate the changes to the Elwha River basin in the Washington State Olympic Peninsula after the removal of the Elwha River dam.
Santiago, Chile
Released: 05/25/2012
The population of the Chilean capital of Santiago has steadily increased over the years, and that has led to expanded development in all directions, including into the foothills of the mountain ranges.
Joplin, Missouri - One Year Later
Released: 05/16/2012
On May 22, 2011, the city of Joplin, Missouri, was devastated by a catastrophic EF5 multiple vortex tornado. These Landsat images show the area of Joplin, Missouri, on May 7, 2011, on June 8, 2011, after the tornado touched down, and again recently on May 9, 2012.
The Villages, Florida
Released: 05/14/2012
In the last decade, Florida has had dramatic population growth. Sumpter County in central Florida grew 75%, largely due to the expansion of The Villages retirement community. The Villages is a master planned retirement community, complete with nearly 40 golf courses.
Cedar Bluff Reservoir, Kansas
Released: 05/07/2012
In 1949, the Cedar Bluff Dam was constructed along the Smoky Hill River in Kansas to mainly provide irrigation to the area. In the late 1960's and into the 1970's, the flow of the river declined dramatically, and by the early 1980's, not enough water was available for irrigation.
Binhai New Area, China
Released: 04/27/2012
Located on the coast of the Bohai Sea Region, the Binhai New Area has quickly become a major industrial center in China.
Tucson, Arizona
Released: 04/23/2012
Located in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona, Tucson is one of the oldest continually inhabited areas of North America. There is evidence of settlements 3,000 years ago
Uravan, Colorado
Released: 04/18/2012
Uravan is an abandoned uranium mining town in western Colorado. Established in 1936 to extract vanadium ore, the mining community provided uranium for the first atomic bomb during World War II.
Salmon River Reservoir
Released: 04/06/2012
The Salmon River Reservoir in central New York state was created in 1914. Landsat satellite data, acquired since 1985, illustrate the steady increase in the size of the reservoir.
Bear Glacier, Alaska
Released: 03/02/2012
Landsat satellite data are increasingly used to track natural and anthropogenic changes to the land surface features of the planet. Changes to Bear Glacier in south central Alaska are illustrated by comparing 1980, 1989, and 2011 Landsat coverage.
Denver International Airport
Released: 02/24/2012
In 1995, the Denver International Airport officially opened and replaced the Stapleton International Airport servicing the Denver region. Landsat satellite data illustrate the changes in the area from before the construction and after the new airport was completed.
Pine Island Glacier
Released: 02/10/2012
Pine Island is one of the largest and fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica. Landsat satellite imagery shows first a series of splits along the western edge of the glacier and then a major break, which eventually will extend all the way across the glacier.
Mesquite Mine, California
Released: 02/06/2012
The Mesquite Mine was established in 1957 and expanded in 1986 as gold prices climbed and the mine is now one of the largest gold mines in the country.
Urban Growth of the Montgomery, Alabama, Area
Released: 01/20/2012
In the past 30 years the population has grown from just under 125,000 to over 200,000.
La Cordillera Regrowth
Released: 01/12/2012
In 2005, large fires caused extensive damage to forested regions in the Cordillera Central, the mountains in the Dominican Republic. The February 2011 image shows the regrowth of the forest lands. The fire scars are covered by darker green tones representing developing forest lands.
Rising Water Changes Caspian Shoreline
Released: 01/09/2012
While water levels of the Caspian Sea have historically fluctuated, the area has seen increasing water volume in the past two decades.
Arcadia Lake, Oklahoma
Released: 01/03/2012
Landsat images of Arcadia Lake show the area in 1986, before the earthen dam blocked the Deep Fork River, and in 2011, with the reservoir near capacity.
The Dead Sea
Released: 12/23/2011
These Landsat images show the change in the Dead Sea from 1984 to 2011. In recent decades, the sea has been shrinking due to diversion of water from the Jordan River, the sea's main tributary. Mineral evaporation ponds that have replaced open water in the southern part of the sea can be seen in the 2011 image.
Proctor Lake Affected by Texas Drought
Released: 12/08/2011
West Virginia surface mining
Released: 12/01/2011
1987 and 2011 Landsat satellite images illustrate the expansion of surface mining in west central West Virginia.
Lake Basaka, Ethiopia
Released: 11/18/2011
In the past 35 years Lake Basaka, located in the Middle Awash River Basin, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, has greatly expanded and the expansion has affected regional land use. While the exact cause of the expansion remains under study, a likely cause is the discharging of irrigation excesses directly into the lake.
Aguascalientes, Mexico-Booming Growth
Released: 11/10/2011
Landsat images illustrate how urban growth around Aguascalientes, Mexico, has increased over the past 20 years.
Expanding Oil Production in Mangystau Province, Kazakhstan
Released: 11/07/2011
Significant oil and gas deposits in the area just east of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan, explored heavily only since the early 1990s, have allowed for the creation of production facilities that have changed the landscape of the Mangystau Province.
Urban Growth in Morocco 1985-2011
Released: 10/28/2011
The Moroccan cities of Agadir, Inezgane, and Tikiouine are situated close to the Atlantic coastline and stretch into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Agadir was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1960. Reconstruction efforts have focused on tourism, turning this area into a winter destination.
Aquaculture Changes Mexican Shoreline
Released: 10/20/2011
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U.S. Geological Survey