http://remotesensing.usgs.gov/ Changes Over Time Events. Links and contacts within this release are valid at the time of publication. /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#302 The city of Dubai is situated along the Persian Gulf in the United Arab Emirates. These Landsat 7 images show the area in 2000 and 2012, and give a remarkable view of the changes that have taken place. 2013-03-25 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#299 The Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., stand atop a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. 2013-03-07 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#297 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. 2013-01-25 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#296 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. 2013-01-14 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#295 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. 2012-12-27 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#294 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. 2012-12-11 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#293 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. 2012-11-21 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#292 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. 2012-11-14 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#291 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. 2012-10-29 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#290 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. 2012-10-04 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#289 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. 2012-09-28 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#288 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. 2012-09-20 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#287 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. 2012-09-07 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#286 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 2012-08-31 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#285 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. 2012-08-24 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#284 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. 2012-08-16 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#283 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. 2012-08-08 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#281 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. 2012-08-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#280 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. 2012-07-27 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#279 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. 2012-07-23 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#278 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. 2012-07-16 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#277 These Landsat images, acquired in 1984 and again in 2012, show in green the expanding agricultural areas in the Natron Valley in Egypt. 2012-07-09 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#276 These Landsat images show the Omaha, Nebraska area during the flooding in June 2011, and again recently on June 8, 2012. 2012-07-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#272 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. 2012-06-25 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#271 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. 2012-06-15 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#269 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. 2012-06-08 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#268 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. 2012-06-01 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#263 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. 2012-05-25 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#262 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. 2012-05-16 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#261 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. 2012-05-14 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#259 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. 2012-05-07 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#258 Located on the coast of the Bohai Sea Region, the Binhai New Area has quickly become a major industrial center in China. 2012-04-27 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#257 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 2012-04-23 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#256 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. 2012-04-18 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#255 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. 2012-04-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#253 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. 2012-03-02 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#252 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. 2012-02-24 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=8#251 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. 2012-02-10 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#250 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. 2012-02-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#249 In the past 30 years the population has grown from just under 125,000 to over 200,000. 2012-01-20 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#248 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. 2012-01-12 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#247 While water levels of the Caspian Sea have historically fluctuated, the area has seen increasing water volume in the past two decades. 2012-01-09 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#246 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. 2012-01-03 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#245 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. 2011-12-23 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#243 Dry conditions since mid-2010 have caused a large portion of the State of Texas to be in an “exceptional” state of drought, the worst condition on the Federal government's drought monitor scale. Not only have crops and farmland been affected, the levels of many lakes in the state have decreased. 2011-12-08 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#242 1987 and 2011 Landsat satellite images illustrate the expansion of surface mining in west central West Virginia. 2011-12-01 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#241 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. 2011-11-18 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#240 Landsat images illustrate how urban growth around Aguascalientes, Mexico, has increased over the past 20 years. 2011-11-10 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#239 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. 2011-11-07 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#238 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. 2011-10-28 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#237 These Landsat images show changes to Sonora Mexico’s western coastline, located on the Gulf of California, due to the construction of shrimp farms. 2011-10-20 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#236 These Landsat images show the area in 1984, and in 2011. The reservoir flooded the upstream forest and displaced many people. 2011-10-13 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#235 Extreme dry conditions have led to major fires in north central Australia the past year. In February, fires along the coast caused extensive damage and loss of life. 2011-10-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#234 Prolonged drought in the southwestern United States has affected many water bodies, such as Elephant Butte Reservoir along the Rio Grande River, north of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. 2011-09-29 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#232 Severe drought conditions throughout much of the summer of 2011 have sparked many wildfires throughout Texas. 2011 has been reported to be the most severe single-year drought since the 1950s and received the lowest single-year rainfall since the late 1800s. 2011-09-15 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#226 Lightning sparked a fire on June 19, 2011, within the Holly Shelter Game Land in North Carolina. Hot, dry conditions fueled the fast ignition of over 30,000 acres of thick evergreen shrubs and deep highly flammable coal-like soil. 2011-08-29 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#225 The construction of the Ermenek dam project on the Goksu River Basin created a large reservoir that inundated previous fragile wildlife habitat. 2011-08-19 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#224 In February, 1991, hundreds of oil wells in Kuwait were set ablaze during the early stages of the Desert Storm conflict. 2011-08-10 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#223 Lake Oroumeih is a major water body in northwest Iran. However, dams on feeder streams, expanded use of ground water in the region, and a decades long major drought have caused the lake to diminish. 2011-07-28 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=2#222 On April 30, 2011, lightning caused wildfires near the Okefenokee National Wildlife refuge in the Honey Prairie region of Georgia. 2011-07-26 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#211 Landsat 5 images acquired during the fires in 2009, and again in 2011, show the drastic burn scars and re-growth of the areas. 2011-05-27 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#202 Landsat satellite imagery shows the dramatic changes in the area of the Great Salt Lake over the last 25 years. 2011-04-11 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#199 Landsat satellite data have proven useful for monitoring the development of sediment-established land in the Wax Lake Delta region in Louisiana. 2011-03-29 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#195 These Landsat images, acquired and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey, show the increase in cropland areas north of the Borohoro Mountains/ Tian Shan Range in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Northwest China from 1989 to 2010 2011-02-28 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#193 Owens Lake was one of the most important stopover sites for migrating waterfowl and shore birds in the western United States for thousands of years. However, in the early 20th century the lower Owens River was largely diverted to the Los Angeles aqueduct. 2011-01-27 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#173 These images show the Aral Sea, in Central Asia. Because rivers that used to flow into the Aral Sea have been diverted for irrigation, this inland sea has shrunk dramatically. 2010-11-08 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#184 These images show a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1992, and again in 1995. Unburned forest is shown in darker green tones; burn scars show in shades of orange. 2010-02-03 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#183 The fire occurred in May 1998, and vegetation has started to regrow in the area in 2009. 2009-12-14 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#180 The rate of coastal erosion more than doubled in Alaska-to as much as 45 feet per year-within the 52-year period between 1955 and 2007 along a 37-mile stretch of the Beaufort Sea, with ice-rich coastal bluffs showing the greatest increase in recent erosion rates. 2009-08-10 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#179 Sea ice forms along the coast in the winter, and generally melts or breaks away by mid July. Observations of sea ice position reveal considerable year-to-year variability. Changes in the timing of coastal sea ice breakup and in the location of offshore sea ice have significant local impacts: ecological, biological, and human. 2009-07-16 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#177 A devastating nuclear accident happened at Chernobyl, Ukraine, on 26 April 1986. These Landsat satellite images show the area around the nuclear power plant approximately one month after the accident, and six years after the accident. The most visible change in these images is the abandonment of farm fields, which turn from a bright red-and-white pattern to a dull gray. The area shown in the image is approximately 35-miles by 37-miles (56-km x 59-km). 2009-07-06 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#137 These images show the progression of deforestation in Bolivia from 1986 to 2000. Landsat 5 25th Anniversary Imagery Collection. 2008-12-09 /gallery/gallery.php?cat=3#138 The changes in the Colorado River Basin are evident as shown in these images from 1985 and 2007. Landsat 5 25th Anniversary Imagery Collection. 2008-09-29