Cities
Coasts
Deserts
Energy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) holds about 6% of the world’s total oil reserves. The oil cannot last forever, so Dubai is thinking of the future. The fast-growing city, and most populous in the UAE, is diversifying its economic base by becoming a luxury tourist destination.
Landsat can track the city’s urban growth, along with numerous other types of landscape changes.
(Black stripes run through some of the images because of the Scan Line Corrector failure on Landsat 7 in May 2003.)
Location
May 3, 1991, Landsat 5 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
May 22, 2001, Landsat 7 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
June 2, 2005, Landsat 7 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
June 21, 2006, Landsat 7 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
May 17, 2008, Landsat 5 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
June 6, 2015, Landsat 8 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
June 19, 2020, Landsat 8 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
June 17, 2022, Landsat 9 (path/row 160/42,43) — Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Additional Imagery & Stories
Dubai
About 5 million tourists visit Dubai every year and they have plenty to see and do. To attract tourists, Dubai developed the world’s fastest roller co...
Palm Jebel Ali
Palm Jebel Ali is another island similarly shaped to the Palm Jumeirah and slightly larger. And like Palm Jumeirah, this artificial island was built q...
Palm Jumeirah
Palm Jumeirah was the first of the artificial islands off the coast of Dubai to be built. Shaped like a huge palm tree, it added 56 kilometers (35 mil...
Solar Park
Starting in the 2015 image, dark shapes cover the desert several kilometers south of Dubai. This set of millions of photovoltaic solar panels is set t...
The World
Another impressive artificial archipelago best appreciated from above is “The World.” These 300 private islands are in the rough shape of a world map....
References
BBC News, 2014, Building Re-starts on Dubai’s World Islands Project: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28980951.
Dubai Online, 2015, Palm Jumeirah: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.dubai-online.com/maps/palm-jumeirah/.
Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, 2015, UAE Economy: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.uae-embassy.org/uae/economy.
GC Privé, 2013, The Palm Island, Dubai UAE—Megastructure Development: accessed December 4, 2015, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BXGh0EYJtE.
Gulf Business, 2015, Palm Jebel Ali Will Not Be Cancelled: Gulf Business, accessed December 4, 2015, at http://gulfbusiness.com/2015/03/exclusive-palm-jebel-ali-will-cancelled-nakheel-chairman/#.VbZqIPl2Fl0.
Hosseini, B., 2019, $5 billion Dubai megaresort rises from The World: CNN, accessed June 4, 2019, at https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/the-heart-of-europe-the-world-dubai/index.html.
Jacobs, Frank, 2015, The World (Under Construction): Big Think, accessed December 4, 2015, at http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/the-world-under-construction.
Khaleej Times, 2018, Photos: Have you visited Dubai's heart-shaped lake yet? Khaleej Times Dubai, accessed June 4, 2019, at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/nation/dubai/photos-have-you-visited-dubais-heart/-shaped-lakes-yet.
Lindsey, Rebecca, 2011, Urbanization of Dubai: NASA Earth Observatory World of Change, accessed December 4, 2015, at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/dubai.php.
Lonely Planet, 2015, Introducing Dubai: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/united-arab-emirates/dubai.
Maceda, C., 2018, Look—Dubai carves heart-shaped lake in the desert: Gulf News, accessed June 4, 2019, at https://gulfnews.com/going-out/society/look-dubai-carves-heart-shaped-lake-in-the-desert-1.1542694159265.
Page, T., and Burnell, M., 2019, $13.6B record-breaking solar park rises from Dubai desert: CNN, accessed June 4, 2019, at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/mbr-solar-park-dubai-desert-intl/index.html.
Power Technology, 2019, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park Phase II, Dubai: Power Technology, accessed June 4, 2019, at https://www.power-technology.com/projects/mohammed-bin-rashid-al-maktoum-solar-park-phase-ii-dubai/.
Private Islands Online, 2015, The World Islands—Dubai: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands/the-world-islands-dubai.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 2015, United Arab Emirates: U.S. Department of Energy, accessed February 22, 2016, at https://www.eia.gov/beta/international/analysis.cfm?iso=ARE.
Visit Dubai, 2015, Burj Khalifa: accessed December 4, 2015, at http://www.visitdubai.com/en/pois/burj-khalifa.