(such as elevation) to create image products such as these.
Flooding in Southeastern South Dakota June 27, 2014
In June 2014, southeastern South Dakota received record amounts of rainfall, and parts of neighboring states also received excessive rainfall due to a series of severe storms. As rivers overran their banks, many roadways became impassable and the rising waters damaged many homes and businesses. This area is an important agricultural region, and the heavy rainfall and accompanying hail damaged many of the recently planted corn and soybean crops.
The second image clearly shows the Vermillion River and the Big Sioux River flooded over their banks. The lower right corner of the second image also has darker tones mixed throughout the agricultural areas (bright green). These darker tones suggest potential flood damage to the crops in this region.
Landsat images such as these can be an important tool for evaluating the damage to local crops and for monitoring the agricultural recovery and replanting efforts on a regional scale. The Landsat imagery will also be useful for monitoring the overall distribution oft floodwaters as they recede and move downstream.
28 Years of Landscape Change in Texas, USA June 23, 2014
These images show a portion of the Texas Panhandle where it meets the western border of Oklahoma. The area is part of the “Granite Wash” region, which contains over 3,600 wells that mine oil and natural gas from as deep as 17,000 feet (5,182 meters) underground.
When comparing Landsat imagery from 1986 (left) and 2014 (right), many changes can be seen on the landscape. The large number of white spots in the second image indicates an overall increase in the number of oil wells. The reduced overall greenness (vegetation) in the second image was caused by several recent years of drought. Other visible changes include additional center-pivot irrigation systems (dark circles). There are also several new burn scars from wildfires that occurred in March 2014.
As the Landsat archive grows, its imagery can be 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 hist