used to record and monitor many different types of landscape changes through time.
The Funny River Fire was first discovered on May 19, 2014. By early June, it had burned almost 200,000 acres in south-central Alaska, including much of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
The Landsat 8 image on May 4 shows the area before the fire began. Heavy smoke covers the Kenai Peninsula in the May 20 image, and this image also shows some of the areas of active burning (bright orange) along the edges of the wildfire area. On June 5, Landsat 8 captured the total extent of the burned area.
A series of wildfires erupted along the coastal region north of San Diego, California, in mid-May 2014. The first wildfire (Bernardo Fire) began on May 13, followed by several additional fires that occurred over the following days. At one point, firefighters were battling at least eight active wildfires and over 175,000 evacuation notices were issued.
The Landsat 8 image (left) was acquired on May 9, 2014, and shows the area before the fires began. The Landsat 7 image (right) was acquired eight days later. The red tones show numerous areas that were burned as of May 17, 2014.
The repetitive imagery provided by the Landsat satellites allows officials to evaluate the destructive impacts and monitor future recovery after disaster events such as these wildfires.
A tornado that touched down in central Arkansas on April 27, 2014, proved devastating and deadly.
These Landsat images show the area northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, before and after the storm. The path of the tornado can be seen in the May 1, 2014 image. The tornado began southwest of Lake Maumelle, before crossing the Arkansas River and moving through the town of Mayflower. It then continued to the northeast through the town of Vilonia.
Landsat image acquisitions will be useful for monitoring the current impacts and future recovery of vegetation destroyed in the storm.
Winter Ice Cover, Lake Superior (USA/Canada) May 8, 2014
The extreme cold of the 2013-2014 winter season created historic ice cover on the North American Great Lakes and much slower than normal spring melt. The persistent and widespread ice has affected shipping transportation throughout the Great Lakes region. At one point, the Lake Superior ice cover was estimated to be nearly 95% with an average thickness of 22.6 centimeters (8.9 inches). Pressure ridges and ice motion can also cause plates of ice to buckle and stack, creating local ridges up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) thick in some places. Even though the ice has now started to melt, some areas of this year’s ice cover could last into June.
The abnormal thickness and extent of this year’s ice cover caused challenges to the ice breakers that allow shipping to and from ports such as Duluth Harbor. When cutting through very thick ice, it can take many hours to go a very short distance. At one point, as many as 70 ships were awaiting entry into Lake Superior, and the ships were being grouped together as escorted convoys to maximize ice-breaking efforts and allow safe passage.
These three Landsat 8 ”natural-color” (3-band composite) images show the Lake Superior area north of Duluth, Minnesota, in February and April 2014. The first image (February 16) shows the ice cover near its maximum. The second image (April 5) shows reduced ice coverage, along with an ice breaker channel that was created to allow ships to enter Duluth Harbor. The third image shows the remaining ice cover as of April 21.
Landsat imagery provides a consistent and repetitive view of the Earth’s surface and can be used to help monitor changing conditions over time.
Drought Conditions in California, USA April 24, 2014
After several consecutive years of below-normal precipitation, the U.S. state of California is preparing for its most severe drought emergency in decades. The current drought is due in part to decreased rainfall along with reduced winter snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. In 2013, California received less precipitation than any other year since it became a state in 1850. Water conservation e