Madcap Recap: Landsat in the News

Madcap Recap: Landsat in the News

Curator’s note: As regular readers will know, we collect and present Landsat-related science news on this site. In that process we come across many more Landsat-related stories than we can reasonably cross-post or write about, so in this new occasional segment we will be presenting very brief summaries and links to some of the more fascinating Landsat news and blog posts that we come across. In the budding world of geojournalism, we are seeing more and more news outlets using Landsat data to do their own story analysis and we aim to capture some of those pieces in this “Madcap Recap” segment as well. If you are interested in seeing even more instances of Landsat in the news, follow us on twitter at @NASA_Landsat.

October 2017
2017 bloom in Lake Erie Miles of Algae Covering Lake Erie; The New York Times
Landsat data was chief among a collection of satellite data used to show the 700 square mile algae bloom in western Lake Erie.
Landsat image of PR's Rio Grande de Loíza For 1st Time, NASA Uses Black Marble Tech in Disaster Response—the Images of Puerto Rico are Amazing; CNBC
This article about the use of NASA’s Black Marble to see power outage extents in Puerto Rico, also shows a Landsat 8 image that was used to assess flooding extent in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.
August 2017
NDVI map of D.C. D.C.’s Heat Islands; D.C. Policy Center
This article uses Landsat 8 data to analyze vegetation patterns, temperature trends, and neighborhoods vulnerable to heat-related illnesses on the urban heat island of Washington D.C.
fighting fires on Amalfi Coast (ESA) Amalfi Coast Fires in Italy; ESA
Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data were used to illustrate the extent of summer wildfires that tormented Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
September 2016
NDVI image of properties in Bel Air, LA, CA Who is the Wet Prince of Bel Air? Here are the Likely Culprits; Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting
Investigative journalists from Reveal used satellite imagery, including Landsat, in an attempt to track down Los Angeles residents who were using outsized amounts of water during California’s drought. Their findings included one property using the amount of water typically used by 90 families.
March 2016
Houston graphic (ProPublica) Hell and High Water; The Texas Tribune & ProPublica
More than a year before Hurricane Harvey, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica put together this imagery-intensive explanation of Houston’s unique vulnerability to hurricane storm surges. Landsat was a key source for the base images used.
August 2014
Wagon Wheel in Miss. Delta (ProPublica) Losing Ground; ProPublica & The Lens
An in-depth, interactive look at the disappearing lands of the Mississippi Delta region featuring Landsat as both base map and change indicator.

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Map shows South Korea with waterways highlighted. In the top right corner is a north arrow and in the bottom left corner is a legend of different rivers in South Korea.

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South Korea is facing a water quality problem. Researchers Hyunglok Kim and Seongjun Lee from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) embarked on developing a model to predict water quality indicators in near real-time.

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