March 6, 2015
Most of the Mississippi River Delta in southern Louisiana is sinking. An area almost the size of Delaware has been lost to subsidence over the past 80 years. However, further west along the coastline is an area of delta buildup.
These two Landsat images show changes to the coastline along the Atchafalaya River outlets between 1984 and 2014. Sediments carried by the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi, are responsible for the growth of two new river deltas seen in the 2014 image. These two deltas are from the main Atchafalaya River (right) and its associated Wax Lake Outlet (left). Both of these channels were used for flood control during the Mississippi River floods of 2012, when water was diverted from the Mississippi through the Atchafalaya River Basin into the Gulf of Mexico.
The slow-moving waters of the Atchafalaya River allow suspended sediments to settle near shore. This creates an optimal land- and marsh-building environment. In contrast, the lower Mississippi River’s waters flow quickly through a narrow channel, carrying most of its suspended sediments far offshore. The coastal marshland that has now been built in the Atchafalaya region gives planners hope that other areas of the Mississippi Delta could be similarly rebuilt or preserved through land and water management.
The continuous acquisition of Landsat imagery now spans more than four decades, providing a valuable historical record that can help researchers and scientists monitor and understand landform changes on the Earth’s surface.
These two Landsat images show several of Iceland’s ice caps as they appeared in September 1986 and 2014.
The largest white area is the Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap. Underneath this massive mound of ice sits the active Katla volcano. Katla erupts every 40–80 years and is accompanied by high-volume glacial outburst floods (jökulhlaups). The smaller ice cap to the west is Eyjafjallajökull. This ice cap also covers an active volcano, which last erupted in 2010 and disrupted air travel for several weeks.
The brown areas on both ice caps consist of accumulated volcanic ash and other deposits from past volcanic eruptions. The dark cover of volcanic ash from the 2010 eruption is especially prominent on the 2014 image of Eyjafjallajökull.
At first glance, there appears to be remarkable shrinkage of the ice caps by 2014, the situation for most of Iceland’s ice cover. However, the bright white areas in the 1986 image represent fresh snow cover, which is not present in the 2014 image. To monitor the actual changes in the extent of an ice cap, scientists measure changes in the position of the terminus of outlet glaciers.
Landsat is one of several important remote sensing tools being used by glaciologists to map and monitor changes in the Earth’s ice cover over time.
Chesapeake Bay: A Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance Mosaic February 12, 2015
Chesapeake Bay is the Nation’s largest estuary and its restoration and protection is a priority. The USGS provides scientific information to help manage this vital ecosystem. As part of that role, staff at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center created this true color composite image. The image was created using Provisional Surface Reflectance data from five Landsat 8 scenes, acquired in October and November 2014.
Provisional Surface Reflectance processing includes atmospheric correction to reduce haze, aerosol, water vapor, and ozone effects from Landsat Level 1 processed data. The enhanced processing makes this seamless mosaic possible and provides a sharper view of the Earth’s surface, as if there were no atmosphere interrupting the view between the satellite and ground.
Chesapeake Bay is the dark shape stretching up through the center of the image. Sediment in the water appears either light blue or green. Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC, are the two bright areas near the upper left. The peninsula across the Chesapeake from these cities is a patchwork of farm, forest, and protected areas.
Moving water holds potential for generating electricity, an