Satellite Images of Environmental Change

Satellite imagery illustrating significant environmental changes, featuring deforestation, urban development, and flooding across various global regions over time.

Aerial view of post-coal landscape, now a protected nature habitat Wanninchen, Brandenburg, Germany.

Deforestation, West Rondonia, Brazil, In 1992, True Colour Satellite Image. True colour satellite image showing deforestation in Amazonia in the Western part of the State of Rondonia, Brazil. Image size A4, taken in 1992, using LANDSAT data.

Color satellite image of Cairo and New Cairo City, Egypt in 2022.

Deforestation, West Rondonia, Brazil, In 2000, True Colour Satellite Image. True colour satellite image showing deforestation in Amazonia in the Western part of the State of Rondonia, Brazil. Image taken on 22 August 2000, using LANDSAT data.

On Jan. 7, 2011, NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this image of the inundated city of Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. Torrential rains in NE Australia caused the Fitzroy River to overflow its banks and flood much of the city.

A destructive forest fire that broke out June 24, 2007 near South Lake Tahoe, Calif. June 27, 2007. Satellite image.

Aerial view of post-coal landscape, now a protected nature habitat Wanninchen, Brandenburg, Germany.

NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this view of severe flooding in La Plata, Argentina, on April 4, 2013. Torrential rains and record flash flooding has killed more than 50 and left thousands homeless, according to news reports.

STS059-213-009 (9-20 April 1994) --- San Francisco Bay. Orient with the sea up. The delta of the combined Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers occupies the foreground, San Francisco Bay the middle distance, and the Pacific Ocean the rest. Variations in water color caused both by sediment load and by wind streaking strike the eye. Man-made features dominate this scene. The Lafayette/Concord complex is left of the bay head, Vallejo is to the right, the Berkeley/Oakland complex rims the shoreline of the main bay, and San Francisco fills the peninsula beyond. Salt-evaporation ponds contain differently-colored algae depending on salinity. The low altitude (less than 120 nautical miles) and unusually-clear air combine to provide unusually-strong green colors in this Spring scene. Hasselblad camera.

Aerial view of post-coal landscape, now a protected nature habitat Wanninchen, Brandenburg, Germany.

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ISS007-E-07247 (13 June 2003) --- This image, photographed by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS), features the Missouri River and a near-vertical view of Omaha, Nebraska. With a population estimated at more than three quarters of a million residents, Omaha is situated on high ground to the west of the river while Eppley Airfield and the town of Council Bluffs, Iowa are located on the floodplain.

Deforestation, Mato Grosso, Brazil, In 2000, True Colour Satellite Image. True colour satellite image showing deforestation in Amazonia in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Image taken on 18 June 2000, using LANDSAT data.

The Carajas Mine is the largest open-pit iron ore mine in the world. It is located in the state of Para, northern Brazil. The mine is estimated to contain over 7 billion tons of iron ore, plus gold, manganese, bauxite, copper and nickel. Ore is loaded into rail cars, and shipped to the Atlantic port city of Sao Luis over 250 kilometers away. The image was acquired June 19, 2017, covers an area of 18 by 27 kilometers, and is located at 6.1 degrees south, 50.2 degrees west.

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest at Rondonia, Brazil. In this image, intact forest is deep green, while cleared areas are tan (bare ground) or light green (crops, pasture, or occasionally, second-growth forest). The fish bone pattern of small clearings along new roads is the beginning of one of the common deforestation trajectories in the Amazon.), the remaining forest cover continues to dwindle. The Amazon rainforest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests.

Color satellite image of coal mines in southern West Virginia, USA in 2022.

The October fires in Northern California were some of the most destructive in the state's history. The burned area on the right side of the image is the ATLAS fire, that burned east of Napa; the fire consumed 51,000 acres and destroyed almost 500 structures. The burned area on the left is part of the Nuns fire that burned between Sonoma and Napa; it consumed 110,000 acres, and destroyed almost 7,000 structures. The images were acquired September 7, 2016 and October 28, 2017, cover an area of 34.5 by 39 kilometers, and are located near 38.3 degrees north, 122.3 degrees east.

Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest at Rondonia, Brazil. In this image, intact forest is deep green, while cleared areas are tan (bare ground) or light green (crops, pasture, or occasionally, second-growth forest). The fish bone pattern of small clearings along new roads is the beginning of one of the common deforestation trajectories in the Amazon.), the remaining forest cover continues to dwindle. The Amazon rainforest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests.

This image, acquired by NASA's Terra spacecraft, shows Fiji, hard hit by heavy rains in early 2012, causing flooding and landslides. Hardest hit was the western part of the main Island of Viti Levu, Fiji, and the principal city of Nadi.

Fires both wild and prescribed dot the landscape of the southeastern portion of the United States. Wildfires are those that occur naturally with lightning strikes or are set by careless humans. Prescribed fires are those deliberately set by land management authorities to take out underlying brush and dead grass so that in the event of a wildfire there is not sufficient fuel for that fire to spread too far. The Southern Area Coordination Center for fire management has this information on its report for February 21, 2017. Fires that have broken out recently (known as Initial Attack Activity) 198 fires for 2,292 acres Ongoing Uncontained Large Fires 3 fires for 5,947 acres Other Fires reported through alternate channels 56 fires for 1,400 acres Prescribed Fire Activity State and/or Federal Lands - 1,974 prescribed fires for 38,533 acres in AL, FL & GA The bulk of the fires seen in the image taken by the Aqua satellite using the onboard MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectr

Aerial and Satellite Images - 26-HK-19-112. Hurricane Katrina

ISS018-E-008065 (9 Nov. 2008) --- Progressive forest clearing in Bolivia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 18 crewmember on the International Space Station. The eastern half of Bolivia is covered with tropical rainforest. In the 1990s, Bolivia initiated a large-scale effort to increase the rate of logging and create tracts of land for commercial agriculture (primarily soy and sugar cane, but also coca) on the Amazon Basin side of the Andean highlands. Today, the commercial fields are well-established and easily mapped from space as large, rectangular clearings in the forest. The agricultural developments are still growing today. The clearings start off as small rectangles arranged perpendicular to an access road; early clearings take on a herring-bone pattern when viewed from above. The uncleared (dark forest) areas are gradually logged and cultivated, filling in the pattern to make a larger cleared area. Astronauts aboard the space station routinely observe inten

Aerial view of post-coal landscape, now a protected nature habitat Wanninchen, Brandenburg, Germany.

These images from NASA's Terra satellite are of the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains showing several smoke plumes from wildfires burning throughout Northern California on August 13, 2001.

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Satellite view of deforestation in Para, Brazil in 1992 and 2000. This before and after image shows deforestation impact over the years.

The worst forest fires in nearly two decades are burning out of control on Borneo, creating the thick blanket of smoke in this Oct. 14, 2015 image from NASA's Terra spacecraft.

ISS014-E-15258 (26 Feb. 2007) --- Kwangju, South Korea is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember on the International Space Station. The Metropolitan City of Kwangju (or Gwangju) is the fifth largest urban area in South Korea with a population of 1.4 million people. It is a major economic and cultural center for the southern portion of the country, located in a geographic basin with high mountains to the east (the mountain of Mudeungsan to the east has a peak elevation of 1,140 meters) and more open plains to the west. The city is perhaps best known to the West as the location of the Gwangju Massacre in May 1980, during which civilian demonstrators were killed by government forces. This event has led to identification of the city within South Korea as "the shrine of Korean democracy." The most notable feature in this view is an interesting blue cast to the urbanized regions. Digital photographs capture the same red, green, and blue wavelengths of reflected l

The Espanola wildfire had consumed more than 4,300 acres when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft acquired this image on June 16, 2011, over Flagler County, Fla.

The Tropical Storm Lee passed over Louisiana. Strong, gusty winds on the western side of the storm stoked fires throughout eastern Texas. Sept. 5, 2011.

ISS014-E-14618 (23 Feb. 2007) --- Maracaibo City and Oil Slick, Venezuela are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember on the International Space Station. This view depicts the narrow (6 kilometers) strait between Lake Maracaibo to the south and the Gulf of Venezuela to the north. This brackish lake in northern Venezuela is the largest in South America. The lake and its small basin are situated atop a vast reservoir of buried oil deposits, first tapped in 1914. Venezuela is now the world's fifth largest oil producer. The narrow strait is deepened to allow access by ocean-going vessels, dozens of which now daily transport approximately 80 per cent of Venezuela's oil to world markets. Shipping is one of the main polluters of the lake, caused by the dumping of ballast and other waste. An oil slick, likely related to bilge pumping, can be seen as a bright streak northeast of El Triunfo. Other sources of pollution to the lake include underwater oil pipeline leakage

ISS016-E-005526 (21 Oct. 2007) --- Dust plumes, Baja California, Mexico are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station. A major dust plume and several minor plumes were raised during the strong, dry Santa Ana winds of October 2007. The light brown dust was transported west out to the Pacific Ocean (top right). According to meteorologists, Santa Ana winds, because they are warm, dry and strong, reduce soil moisture and generate frequent dust storms such as this. On this occasion, the Santa Anas supported the outbreak of fires in southern California resulting in significant damage to homes in hilly, wooded country. Dust plumes are known to start from relatively small, dust-prone areas. Here the plumes rise from the Real del Castillo agricultural valley--25 miles long, and part of Mexico's wine-producing region--surrounded by rocky hills in northern Baja California. Specifically, the dust is rising from spreads of loose sediment k

ISS012-E-15050 (12 Jan. 2006) --- Sandusky Bay is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 12 crew member on the International Space Station. Sandusky Bay appears with brown muddy water (left) in this view. The bay leads out into southern Lake Erie (top). The small city of Sandusky occupies the northeastern shore of the bay (center of the image). Highway 6 can be seen arcing around the south side of the city. Ferries connect Sandusky to Pelee Island (not visible) in the middle of the lake. In earlier days, Sandusky Bay was known as one of the best protected port sites in the Great Lakes. The most striking aspect of this image is the flow lines of the brown water in and out of the mouth of the bay. Slight movement of lake surface water, driven mainly by wind, causes a small ebb and flow of bay water. Sediment-charged water is derived from agricultural fields along the Sandusky River upstream. Mud plumes in Lake Erie originate from prior pulses of muddy water from the bay. Ac

Aerial and Satellite Images - 26-HK-19-1. Hurricane Katrina

Myanmar (Burma), Asia, True Colour Satellite Image With Border. Satellite view of Myanmar (Burma) with border. This image was compiled from data acquired by LANDSAT 5 & 7 satellites.

Brown and tan muddy water flows down the Hudson River are seen in this image acquired by NASA's Terra spacecraft on Sept. 1, 2011. After the torrential rains from Hurricane Irene, many rivers in the eastern United States were filled with sediment.

On August 7, 2007, the Zaca fire continued to burn in the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Barbara, California. Satellite image

NASA image acquired September 2, 2011 To download the full high res go to a href= http //earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php id=52059 rel= nofollow earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php id=52059 /a Nearly a week after Hurricane Irene drenched New England with rainfall in late August 2011, the Connecticut River was spewing muddy sediment into Long Island Sound and wrecking the region's farmland just before harvest. The Thematic Mapper on the Landsat 5 satellite acquired this true-color satellite image on September 2, 2011. With its headwaters near the Canadian border, the Connecticut River drains nearly 11,000 square miles (28,500 square kilometers) and receives water from at least 33 tributaries in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The 410-mile riverNew England's longestenters Long Island Sound near Old Lyme, Connecticut, and is estimated to provide 70 percent of the fresh water entering the Sound. When Irene blew through the region on August 27-28, substa

On Jan. 14, 2011, NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this image of the inundated city of St. George, Queensland, Australia. Torrential rains in northeastern Australia caused the Balonne River to overflow its banks and flood much of the city.

satellite image of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2000

Yangtze River, Shanghai, China, True Colour Satellite Image. Satellite image of the river mouth of the Yangtze river, the longest river in Asia, that flows into the East China Sea. The pink coloured water is highly polluted, sometimes even with toxic waste discharged into the river by factories of the city of Shanghai. The Yangtze river mixes then with the turquoise sea water. Image taken on 3 July 2001 using LANDSAT data.

The world's largest solar power tower recently began operating outside Seville, Spain -- and it marks a historic moment in the saga of renewable energy. This image was acquired by NASA's Terra spacecraft.

NASA image acquired July 17, 2011 In mid-July 2011, more than a month after the Missouri River broke through two levees and flooded fields near Hamburg, Iowa, muddy water lingered near the city. Hamburg residents were relieved, however, that a newly built levee had spared the town from flooding. On July 17, 2011, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASAs Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image. Compared to an image acquired on June 24, flooding has apparently receded slightly in some areas. Sediment-choked water nevertheless lingers on large swaths of land. On July 13, 2011, KETV of Omaha, Nebraska, reported that a newly built, 2-mile levee designed to protect Hamburg already exceeded federal standards. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers handed control of the levee over to city officials on July 12. In the end, the levee was expected to cost the Army Corps $6 million, and the city of Hamburg about $800,000. On July 18, 2011, the Advanced Hydrological Predictio

On January 25, 2019, a dam burst at a Brazilian iron ore mine. The dam's breach unleashed a torrent of mud and mine debris, covering the city of Brumadinho. The image was acquired by ASTER on February 1, 2019, covers an area of 10.8 by 14.8 kilometers, and is located at 20.1 degrees south, 44.1 degrees west.

ISS012-E-15035 (12 Jan. 2006) --- The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, Illinois is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 12 crew member on the International Space Station. The Ohio River becomes a tributary of the Mississippi River directly to the south of Cairo, Illinois, a small city on the spit of land where the rivers converge (at center of image). Brown sediment-laden water flowing generally northeast to south from the Ohio River is distinct from the green and relatively sediment-poor water (northwest- to south-flowing) of the Mississippi River. The coloration of the rivers in this image is reversed from the usual condition of a green Ohio and a brown Mississippi. According to scientists, this suggests that recent precipitation in the Ohio River watershed, with very high rainfall over the Appalachians and the northeastern United States in December 2005, has led to a greater sediment load in the Ohio waters. The distinct boundary between the tw

The large field patterns in this view of the Rio Sao Francisco basin, Brazil, South America, (11.5S, 43.5W) indicate a commercial agriculture venture; family subsistence farms are much smaller and laid out in different patterns. Land clearing in Brazil has increased at an alarming rate in recent years and preliminary estimates suggest a 25 to 30% increase in deforestation since 1984. The long term impact on the ecological processes are still unknown.

The Twitchell Canyon fire, a lightning-caused blaze burning in Utah, has consumed more than 40,000 acres since it began on July 20, 2010. Satellite image.

ISS014-E-13598 (29 Jan. 2007) --- Montevideo, Uruguay is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 14 crewmember on the International Space Station. Reflective roofing materials and dark asphalt streets outline the urban grid pattern of Uruguay's capital city of Montevideo in this image. The city may be viewed as a precursor of the predicted global population shift from dominantly rural to urban environments (by 2030, according to recent United Nations estimates) -- nearly half of Uruguay's total population now lives in the Montevideo metropolitan area. Located on the southern coastline of Uruguay along the Rio de la Plata, Montevideo Bay provides an important harbor and port facilities for transport of South American agricultural products. This view is of sufficient resolution (approximately 7 meters/pixel) to discriminate between dark green canopied tree cover and light green grass - important information for study of urban ecology and climate, as well as city water use p

This near vertical photograph illustrates the differences in agricultural land patterns typically seen in many parts of southwestern Brazil, near the Bolivian border. The larger rectangular field patterns reflect a mature, fully developed agricultural environment. The smaller areas are less well defined and indicate new agricultural development.

On Nov. 8, 2013, NASA's Terra spacecraft acquired this image of Super Typhoon Haiyan as it tore across the central Philippines, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. Among the worst-hit areas is eastern Leyte island and the city of Tacloban.

Color satellite image of coal mines in Southern West Virginia, USA in 1984 and 2022.

Satellite image of the shrinking of the Aral Sea taken in 2012. The Aral Sea, is a lake lying between Kazakhstan, in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. The name roughly translates as 'Sea of Islands', referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

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Satellite View Of Flooded New Orleans In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina (31 August, 2005). (2 Of 2 In A Series. See M2-0397 For First In Series)

STS060-92-082 (3-11 Feb 1994) --- This cloud-free view is centered on the city of Baghdad, Iraq. Baghdad has had a reputation for scholarship and learning from ancient times in the Islamic world. Modern Baghdad is a city with a typical urban land use patterns. The color of Tigris river flowing through the city indicates the heavily sediment laden waters of the river. Agricultural land uses are evident in the surrounding areas of the city.

This radar image shows the massive urbanization of Los Angeles, California. The image extends from the Santa Monica Bay at the left to the San Gabriel Mountains at the right.

East Petaluma, California and Petaluma River emptying into San Pablo Bay.

Satellite view of deforestation in West Rondonia, Brazil in 1986 and 2000. This before and after image shows deforestation impact over the years.

Oroville Dam in Northern California is an earth fill embankment dam, and is the tallest dam in the U.S. Lake Oroville is the second largest man-made lake in the state of California. The lake's capacity reflects the large swings in California's annual rainfall accumulation. With the reality of a very dry 2020-21 rain year, the 2014 data may anticipate this year's water shortage. On May 7, 2012, the lake held 3.5 million acre-feet of water, and was at maximum capacity. Two years later, on August 1, 2014, the lake held 1.2 million acre-feet of water, threatening the water supply to users of its water. The images cover an area of 22.5 by 23.4 km, and are located at 39.6 degrees north, 121.5 degrees west.

This dramatic image of the Australian brushers was taken from orbit by one of the crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Following the worst regional drought in 50 years, this summer's fire season has resulted in numerous large fires over much of the Great Dividing Range as well as the enormous smoke pall over New South Wales, Victoria, and the adjacent South Pacific Ocean.

iss063e093344 (Sept. 22, 2020) --- A wildfire is pictured in northern Argentina as the International Space Station was orbiting across the South American continent.

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Aspen fire burning out of control north of Tucson, AZ. The fire had consumed more than 27,000 acres and destroyed more than 300 homes. June 26, 2003. Satellite image.

STS102-303-017 (8-21 March 2001)--- The STS-102 crew members used a 35mm camera on the flight deck of the Space Shuttle Discovery to record this image of the Aswan High Dam. The structure was completed in 1970 and is one of the largest earthen embankment dams in the world. It is 364 feet (111 meters) tall, 12,565 feet (3,830 meters) long and nearly 3,281 feet (1,000 meters) wide. When it was built the new reservoir required relocation of nearly 100,000 residents and some archaeological sites. Although the reservoir has benefited Egypt by providing power and controlling floods, according to NASA scientists, it has also had detrimental effects on the Nile system. Before the dam, an estimated 110 million tons of silt was deposited by the annual flood of the Nile, enriching agricultural lands and maintaining the land of the Nile delta. Now this sediment is trapped behind the dam, requiring artificial fertilization of agricultural lands and leading to erosion and saltwater intrusion

On Jan. 16, 2014, NASA's Terra satellite passed over Glendora, Calif., where a large wildfire has claimed several homes, causing mandatory evacuations and prompting an air quality alert by public health officials.

ISS022-E-035426 (22 Jan. 2010) --- Photographed from the International Space Station orbiting Earth at an altitude of 211 statute miles, this image of the Port au Prince area of Haiti from Jan. 22 is centered on the area that was heavily damaged by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Center, a number of tremors of varying magnitudes up to 6.0 were recorded in ensuing days. Ships can be easily delineated in the harbor. The single runway of the airport, heavily damaged by the quake, is seen near center of the frame. The airports control tower was destroyed and has since been rebuilt and is now in service, thanks to part of the huge world-wide aid offered to the nation

Satellite - 26-HK-336-37. Satellite - NEast NOLA. Hurricane Katrina

Color satellite image of Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, in Chinas western province of Qinghai in 2022.

The skies over northern China were shrouded with a thick haze in late December, 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image on December 23. The dense, gray haze obscures almost all the land and much of the coastal waters from view south and east of the Taihang Mountains. Clearer air covers the region north of the mountains, although fingers of haze roll through most river valleys. The cities of Beijing and Hebei, both west of the Bohai Sea are complete enshrouded. By December 24 the smog levels in some area exceeded World Health Organization-recommended levels by 30 times, according to Bloomberg News. The concentration of PM2.5, which are fine air particulates, were reported at 421 micrograms per cubic meter at 2 p.m. near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, while levels were 795 in Xian and 740 in Zhengzhou. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 concentrations no higher than 25 m

Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron, via the St. Clair River, to Lake Erie, via the Detroit River. It is named after Claire of Assisi, on whose feast day it was first navigated by French explorers in 1679. The lake covers an area of about 1100 square kilometers, with an average depth of 3.5 meters. Both the U.S. and Canada maintain a deep shipping channel through the lake. The image was acquired September 9, 2002, covers an area of 51.4 by 52.5 kilometers, and is located at 42.5 degrees north, 82.7 degrees west.

In Saudi Arabia, center-pivot, swing-arm irrigated agriculture complexes such as the one imaged at Jabal Tuwayq (20.5N, 45.0 E) extract deep fossil water reserves to achieve food crop production self sufficiency in this desert environment. The significance of the Saudi expanded irrigated agriculture is that the depletion of this finite water resource is a short term solution to a long term need that will still exist when the water has been extracted.

Tanzania, Africa, True Colour Satellite Image With Border. Satellite view of Tanzania (with border). This image was compiled from data acquired by LANDSAT 5 & 7 satellites.

June 27, 2012 - View from space of the wild fires in the western and southwestern United States. These particular fires, of unknown cause, are burning at the south end of the Wyoming Range in southwestern Wyoming, and have affected 17,000 acres. The fires have produced two major smoke plumes, seen at center of the frame. Utah's Great Salt Lake (bottom center) is about 120 miles away. Winds transport the smoke in a northeasterly direction.

Color satellite image of tar sands, or oil sands, exploitation in Fort McKay, Alberta, Canada in 2022.

STS103-501-152 (19-27 December 1999) --- One of the astronauts aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery used a handheld large format camera to photograph this southern Florida scene. The city of Miami encroaches the eastern edge of the Everglades, which constitute an International Biosphere Reserve World Heritage Site. This subtropical wilderness encompasses a relatively flat (does not exceed 2.4 m above sea level) saw-grass marsh region of 10,000 square kilometers (4,000 square miles). According to NASA Earth scientists, the only source of water in the Everglades is from rainfall. The flow of water is detectable in this image, slowly moving from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay; the light blue, shallow area between the mainland and the Keys; and the southwestern Florida coast.

$The Falcon International Reservoir is on the Rio Grande, 65 km southeast of Laredo, Texas, USA and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Falcon Dam was constructed in 1953 to provide water conservation, irrigation, and hydroelectricity. Its maximum surface area, seen in the 2010 image, was 34,000 hectares. As a result of the 2010s-20s drought, the reservoir holds only a small fraction of its capacity. In 2010, vegetation in the area was healthy (dark red); in 2022, the area is parched. The images were acquired 14 July 2010 and 31 July 2022, cover an area of 29.8 by 46.9 km, and are located at 26.6 degrees north, 99.2 degrees west.$

ISS011-E-06717 (22 May 2005) --- Uralsk, Kazakhstan is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 11 crew member on the international space station. The rough boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the major city of Uralsk (population approximately 250,000) on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals. This view shows the sunglint (light reflected from the water surface towards the observer) on the rivers, lakes and ponds of the Ural f

Satellite image of the shrinking of the Aral Sea taken in 2009. The Aral Sea, is a lake lying between Kazakhstan, in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. The name roughly translates as 'Sea of Islands', referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

Satellite image of the shrinking of the Aral Sea taken in 2013. The Aral Sea, is a lake lying between Kazakhstan, in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. The name roughly translates as 'Sea of Islands', referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

ISS007-E-07842 (22 June 2003) --- This image, photographed by an Expedition 7 crewmember onboard the International Space Station (ISS), features Kitty Hawk, N.C., on North Carolinas Outer Banks. The view shows part of Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic side of the banks as well. This year the world celebrates a century of human flight with the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk. The Wrights used the Outer Banks prevailing winds and the altitude gained by climbing a 90-foot hill (Kill Devil Hill) to successfully demonstrate powered flight. The large circle on the image is a road that wraps around Kill Devil Hill, now part of the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Aerial and Satellite Images - 26-HK-19-108. Hurricane Katrina

Sichuan After Earthquake

Damaging heavy rains fell on South Carolina in the southeastern United States at the beginning of October 2015. Much of that water had, by mid October, flowed into the Atlantic Ocean bringing with it heavy loads of sediment, nutrients, and dissolved organic material. The above VIIRS image shows the runoff as it interacts with ocean currents on October 15, 2015.

Satellite - 26-HK-336-48. NOLA-Surekote Levee (2) - 31 Aug. Hurricane Katrina

ISS018-E-006540 (31 Oct. 2008) --- Cities of the Dead and the Nile River Delta in Egypt are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 18 crewmember on the International Space Station. The ancient pharaohs (kings) and queens of Egypt established several royal cemeteries, or necropoli (cities of the dead) along the Nile River valley. On the western bank, these cities of the dead were built on a gravelly desert plateau formed of limestone and clay overlooking the river -- several scarps are visible at upper right. The most widely recognized features of royal Egyptian necropoli are pyramids, which frequently served as both tombs and monuments for their occupants. This detailed photograph illustrates a portion of the Nile Delta that includes two royal cemetery complexes, Abusir and Saqqara-North. The present day village of Abusir is clearly visible as a grey-white irregular patch of urban materials that contrasts with adjacent green agricultural fields of the Delta and tan desert

Visit of Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to Boise National Forest, Idaho, to meet with Forest Service officials and firefighters, and to observe effects of the summer's Middle Fork Complex and Sheep Trail Fires

Satellite view of deforestation in East Rondonia, Brazil in 1986 and 2001. This before and after image shows deforestation impact over the years.

Logging operations have left a striking checkerboard pattern in the landscape along the Idaho-Montana border, sandwiched between Clearwater and Bitterroot National Forests as seen in this image acquired by NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this image of the Fourmile Canyon fire west of Boulder Colo., on Sept. 17, 2010; it was 100 percent contained.

Satellite image of the shrinking of the Aral Sea taken in 2007. The Aral Sea, is a lake lying between Kazakhstan, in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. The name roughly translates as 'Sea of Islands', referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

This frame is from a visualization of the rapid advance of the Esperanza Fire over the San Jacinto Mountains (Riverside County, CA) between 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM on October 26, 2006.

Wasco, California advertises itself as the 'Rose Capital of the World'; over 8000 acres are devoted to cultivation of existing and new varieties of roses, shipped to every state in the U.S. and all over the world.

From April 25 to April 28, 2011, one of the largest outbreaks of tornadoes ever recorded ripped across the Southern, Midwestern and Eastern United States, affecting 14 states. May 4, 2011.

Los Angeles and San Diego Smog

ISS005-E-9984 (17 August 2002) --- This digital still photograph, taken from the International Space Station (ISS) during its fifth staffing, depicts both agriculture and the petroleum industry, which compete for land use near Denver City, Texas. The photo was recently released by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. The area is southwest of Lubbock near the New Mexico border. According to analysts studying the station imagery, the economy of this region is almost completely dependent on its underground resources of petroleum and water. Both resources result in distinctive land use patterns visible from space. Historically this area has produced vast quantities of oil and gas since development began in the 1930s. A fine, light-colored grid of roads and pipelines connect well sites over this portion of the Wasson Oil Field, one of the states most productive. Since the 1940s, agricultural land use has shifted from grazing to irrigated cu

Satellite image of the shrinking of the Aral Sea taken in 2016. The Aral Sea, is a lake lying between Kazakhstan, in the north and Uzbekistan in the south. The name roughly translates as 'Sea of Islands', referring to over 1,100 islands that once dotted its waters; Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

A thick layer of haze blanketed the North China Plain on October 9, 2014, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image at 2 50 Coordinated Universal Time (10 50 a.m. local time). The haze obscured many features usually visible in MODIS imagery of the area, including Chinas largest city, Beijing. On the day this image was acquired, measurements from ground-based sensors at the U.S. Consulate in Beijing reported PM2.5 measurements of 334 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Fine, airborne particulate matter (PM) that is smaller than 2.5 microns (about one thirtieth the width of a human hair) is considered dangerous because it is small enough to enter the passages of the human lungs. Most PM2.5 aerosol particles come from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass (wood fires and agricultural burning). The World Health Organization considers PM2.5 to be safe when it is below 25. Haze in this region tends to worsen i

From Dec. 2 to Dec. 6, 2010, a deadly forest fire raged in Israel's Carmel region near the city of Haifa. Satellite image.

ISS016-E-022772 (11 Jan. 2008) --- Perth, Australia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station (ISS). Perth is the capital of the state of Western Australia, and the largest city of the southwestern continent of Australia with an estimated population of over 1.5 million (December 2006). The downtown area of Perth and the surrounding suburbs are located on flood plain deposits of the Swan and Canning Rivers that flow through the center of the metropolitan area. Perth enjoys a Mediterranean climate, where the summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and moist. Wildfires can develop during the summer months; several large fires threatened the eastern portion of the metropolitan area in 2005. This view captures variations in urban land cover in the visible wavelengths to which the human eye is sensitive (visible red, green, and blue). The downtown center of Perth at left is characterized by large buildings (such as skyscrape

Aerial view of a huge refugee camp with makeshift houses near Myanmar border, Kutupalong Rohingya camp near Ukhia town, Bangladesh.

iss050e052024 (02/22/2017) --- International Space Station crewmember Sergey Ryzhikov captured this image of Lake Oroville and the Oroville Dam. To decrease reservoir levels and prevent a collapse of the emergency spillway following high amounts of precipitation earlier in February, water continues to be released from the main spillway. A state of emergency was declared on February 13th after the spillway was discovered to be damaged and the threat of its collapse caused the evacuation of more than 100,000 people downstream of Lake Oroville.

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