Near the southernmost tip of Africa lies the Sundays River Valley, an agricultural area rich in citrus fruit production. Urban settlements and orchards in the subtropical climate are aided by a well-developed irrigation system that was established in the early 1920s with the construction of a dam upstream of the area shown in these images.

 

These Landsat images show the Sundays River Valley area in November 1986, and again the same month in 2013. Orchards can be seen expanding along both sides of this stretch of river. The bright green colors indicate orchards and agricultural lands, and pinkish hues indicate unused parcels.



Landsat imagery is valuable for measuring and monitoring land use and land use changes across the Earth’s landscape.