The coal-fired Boundary Dam Power Station began operations in the early 1960s along the Souris River near Estavan, in Saskatchewan, Canada.

These three Landsat images were acquired in 1972, 1986, and 2013 and show how the landscape has been changing over the years.

The Boundary Dam and Reservoir (near the left-center of the first image) was constructed in 1957 to provide coolant for the coal-fired power station operations. The 1986 image shows expansion of coal mining operations into the surrounding area. The 2013 image shows the Rafferty Dam (upper left), which was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s to provide additional water for the area and reduce downstream flooding along the Souris River. This image also shows further expansion of the coal mining operations, as well as the emergence of many temporary lakes which began to develop during the wet spring of 2011.

The Landsat archive contains more than 40 years of data that are useful for land change analysis, covering all areas of the globe. Landsat provides scientists and project engineers with invaluable imagery to conduct their research on how the changes affect the landscape.