Images

Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala erupted on January 31, 2018, and Landsat 8 acquired an image of the eruption a day later.

Landsat 7 satellite image from February 1, 2018, acquired on Landsat 7's 100,000th orbit.

Water levels in large reservoirs in South Africa’s Western Cape province have been impacted by persistent drought in recent years. This Landsat 2014 image shows the Theewaterskloof reservoir, the largest in the province’s water supply system. In subsequent years, water levels have dropped significantly as seasonal rains have repeatedly failed.

Ivanpah Playa Radiometric Calibration Site

Learn more about this Test Site at https://calval.cr.usgs.gov/apps/ivanpah.

A three-year drought is threatening to cause city officials in Cape Town, South Africa, to shut off the tap water. The growing city of nearly 4 million relies mostly on reservoirs for its water supply. While drought is part of the cause of the current crisis, an increasing population is also straining water resources.

Over the past few years, black smoke has been seen in satellite images billowing from various locations in Iraq. As Iraqi forces drive ISIS away, the terrorist group has been setting oil wells on fire as it retreats.

At least 300 active volcanoes dot the Kamchatka Peninsula, which lies along the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire. Landsat 8 caught this plume of ash and smoke streaming from one of these volcanoes - Klyuchevskaya - on January 10, 2018.

If you like being connected to the world everywhere you go with a smartphone or other device, then you have a desolate salt flat in northern Chile to thank.

A volcanic landscape in the Tibesti Mountains of Chad shows some mysterious shapes. However, science can explain mysteries in satellite images. The octopus-shaped feature consists of ancient volcanic flows. In the crater below it, what looks like a face is bright salt deposits.

A massive iceberg broke off Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica, in September 2017. Instead of drifting out to sea after calving, sea ice impeded the iceberg’s movement, and it cracked up into countless pieces nearly on the spot. Even though it broke up relatively quickly for an iceberg, it is more of a slow-motion shattering.

This image of the Ross Archipelago near the McMurdo Station in Antarctica was acquired January 1, 2018, by Landsat 8, almost exactly a decade after USGS and NASA officials signed off on a Landsat Data Distribution Policy that made Landsat images free to the public.

This image of the Ross Archipelago near the McMurdo Station in Antarctica was acquired January 1, 2018, by Landsat 8, almost exactly a decade after USGS and NASA officials signed off on a Landsat Data Distribution Policy that made Landsat images free to the public.

Tourists are drawn to the Texas coastline, but it is a frequent target of hurricanes.
Landsat documents storm damage and long-term coastal changes. Landsat data
are also used to study the urban heat island effect, helping communities identify
hotspots where human lives are at risk of heat-related illnesses. Because nearly

A large outbreak of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars attacked the hardwood forests of the northeastern United States in 2016. A fungus (Entomophaga maimaigaM) introduced from Japan has kept gypsy moth populations at relatively low levels since the late 1980s.

Cattle roam and forage across Montana’s wide-open spaces, with the beef
industry fueling the State’s economy. Landsat data are used to help guide
decisions on invasive species management, like controlling cheatgrass. Montana
researchers also use Landsat satellite data to map persistent snow and ice cover
in Glacier National Park.

In 1934, the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire’s White Mountains experienced a wind gust of 231 miles per hour, the highest surface wind speed ever recorded. 

Capital Concord

Image Source Landsat 8

Population 1,377,529

Example of lidar-derived metric products of canopy structure. A) Image showing an area characterized by varied forest strands.  (Red box shows from where profile data in E area taken.) B) Lidar-derived maximum canopy height.  C) Lidar-derived height of low- to medium-height vegetation beneath the overstory canopy.

A profile view from the normalized point cloud in Superior National Forest, notice the flattened ground surface.  Points are colored by elevation.

South Dakota is home to the fabled “Black Hills.” Seen from a distance, these pine-covered hills, rising several thousand feet above the surrounding prairie, appear black.

Capital Pierre

Image Source Landsat 8

Population 886,667

In the Landsat 8 image acquired on December 9, smoke is carried west by strong winds, which also continued to spread fire through the dry terrain, mountain passes, and canyons. The diagonal lines are an airplane contrail and its shadow cast on the ground.

Green shades seem to be bubbling up like a lava lamp on the left side of this image from northeastern Kenya. The right side is like rusted metal. The dark green is the result of geologically recent lava flows, and the other colors are different types of soils. Even with few defined shapes, the piece has a strange beauty.