Image of the Week — Industrial Evolution in New York

The Staten Island Industrial Park in New York is now home to warehouse and distribution centers for companies like Amazon and IKEA, seen here in imagery from Europe's Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite. But aerial imagery from 1995 shows large oil storage tanks in the same location. The observed changes in this industrial zone highlight an interesting evolution from an economy powered by fossil fuels, to one equally dependent on electronic commerce and retail distribution. By 2006, some of the tanks had been removed. The space transformed slowly in the years that followed with a 975,000 square foot warehouse nearing completion in 2017. Additional buildings were finished shortly after including an 850,000 square foot fulfillment center now used by the online retailer, Amazon. Imagery archived by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center is offered free of charge, and is used worldwide to track changes through time.