Antelope Valley, California, USA
Antelope Valley in southern California is the western part of the Mojave Desert. The San Gabriel Mountains and the Tehachapi Mountains give the valley...
Bahrain
The most noticeable land change in these Landsat images is simply the addition of land itself. In Bahrain, a nation of 36 islands in the Middle East, ...
Bakken Oil Boom, North Dakota, USA
Even though oil is underground, Landsat images can reveal related land changes on the surface. The Bakken oil boom has made North Dakota the second le...
Beijing, China
These images show the growth of Beijing from 1977 to 2020. In the images, the blue tones representing buildings and pavement spread outward, replacing...
Copenhagen, Denmark
Often described as one of the world’s best cities to live, Copenhagen is growing steadily. That growth comes with challenges to keep it a desirable pl...
Dallas, Texas, USA
These images show the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolis in northeastern Texas. This city has grown significantly in recent decades, from 2,378,000 in 1970 ...
Denver, Colorado, USA
Denver has all the classic marks of substantial urban growth over the past few decades. Satellite images reveal expanding residential areas, industria...
Doha, Qatar
Doha, the capital of Qatar, used to be a small fishing and pearl diving village. It’s now Qatar’s largest city with skyscrapers and a fast-growing urb...
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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 ...
Elburz Mountains, Iran
These images show the vicinity of the Elburz Mountains in northern Iran. Tehran lies in the south, and the Caspian Sea is to the north. The Elburz Mou...
Huang He Delta, China
The Huang He River in China is a wanderer. Its lower reaches have changed course many times, moving the delta up and down the coast several hundred ki...
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most intense and costliest hurricanes to hit the United States. On August 28, 2005, Katrina was a category 5 storm (o...
Imperial Valley, California, USA
These images show the Imperial Valley, on the border of California and Mexico. The international border is plain in the images because of the differen...
Lake Naivasha, Kenya
How do those in northern winter climates get roses to their loved ones in February for Valentine’s Day? The answer is to import them from warmer clima...
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Las Vegas grew from a population of 1,375,765 in 2000 to 1,9...
Nile River Delta, Egypt
These images show the dramatic urban growth within the Nile River Delta and the expansion of agriculture into adjoining desert areas. The Nile is the ...
Nouakchott, Mauritania
Not too long ago, Nouakchott, Mauritania, was a small fishing town. It became the country’s capital in 1958, shortly before Mauritania became independ...
Orlando, Florida, USA
The physical growth of Orlando, Florida, especially to the east and south, is apparent in these images. Builders in the area have to plan construction...
Pearl River Delta, China
In 1978, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in southern China had a population of just under 10 million. The population was scattered between several ...
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Phoenix, Arizona, and its suburbs are growing rapidly, both in population and area. Landsat images show striking changes in the Phoenix metropolitan a...
Pune, India
A fast-growing city in India is a study area for urban impervious surface and the urban heat island effect. Located in western India about 120 kilomet...
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The modernization of Saudi Arabia has been a recent and rapid phenomenon. Here we see two aspects of this transformation: explosive urbanization and c...
Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City, Kuwait
In southeastern Kuwait, on the coast of the Persian Gulf, a fascinating transformation is underway. It looks kind of like what you always wished you c...
San Antonio, Texas, USA
These images show the metropolitan area of San Antonio, Texas. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the San Antonio metropolitan are...
Santiago, Chile
The rapid population growth of Santiago, Chile’s capital, has brought a series of problems for the city, all of which were complicated by Chile’s unus...
Shanghai, China
A megacity is a region that has a population greater than 10 million. It seems the term was created for cities like Shanghai, China. In 2000, the fast...
Shiyan, China
The population of China has been urbanizing at a rapid rate. In 1978, less than 20% of China’s population lived in cities. In 2015, more than 55% of t...
Singapore
“Buy land,” a wise man once said. “They’re not making any more.” Not so in Singapore. These images show the physical growth of this island city-nation...
Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia, is a growing cosmopolitan city. Besides its recent growth, however, these images show that Sydney takes advantage of the natural be...
The Everglades and Miami, Florida, USA
Referred to as the “River of Grass,” the Florida Everglades is one of the world’s largest wetlands. However, they were once much larger. Throughout th...
