This week, NASA Goddard launched a brand new video that highlights the Landsat program’s achievements in 2023. A joint mission between NASA and the USA Geological Survey (USGS), satellite tv for pc imagers have been orbiting Earth since Landsat 1 was launched in July 1972.
Landsat 9, the newest Landsat mission, commenced in September 2021 and has delivered important, uninterrupted information of Earth’s floor and its many adjustments. A serious element of the Landsat missions is monitoring long-term shifts in temperature, climate patterns, and geography.
Within the new spotlight video, NASA exhibits a long time of development and adjustments throughout totally different areas, like sea stage adjustments within the Aral sea from 1984 to 2022, deforestation and concrete sprawl in Nyapyitaw, Myanmar over the identical interval, and what number of lakes world wide have elevated and decreased in dimension.
Landsat helps present micro-level human exercise at a macro scale, which may put dramatic adjustments into perspective the place they could in any other case go unnoticed. For instance, gradual will increase in sediment in rivers because of alluvial mining might be troublesome to observe at floor stage in real-time, however by utilizing practically 40 years of Landsat information, researchers can observe international mining exercise and its impacts on rivers.
That is particularly essential in areas the place there will not be accessible information regarding mining exercise. The mining is not possible to overlook when poring over Landsat information.
As Landsat satellites have included improved imaging know-how, together with information throughout wider wavelengths, the info obtainable to scientists and researchers has solely develop into richer and extra helpful.
Not each large-scale environmental change is because of human exercise, both. Whereas human conduct’s connection to climate patterns will not be fairly totally understood but, it’s evident that there are pure shifts from yr to yr. Landsat can monitor these as effectively.
Landsat has additionally been instrumental in aiding important analysis on international water ranges in lakes. Round 25% of the world’s inhabitants depends on lakes which have skilled water loss over the past 30 years.
As Landsat satellites have watched lake water ranges lower, they’ve watched sea ranges rise, which has dramatic impacts on a variety of delicate and important ecosystems, like reef islands, mangroves, and tidal marshes.
The Landsat program is slated to increase considerably with Landsat Next, because of launch in late 2030. Landsat Subsequent will supply two to 3 occasions the temporal, spatial, and spectral decision of Landsat 9.
Picture credit: Featured picture credit score NASA and the USA Geological Survey
