Landsat's Role in Understanding Climate Change
Long-term weather patterns averaged over 30 years or more make up our climate. Human well-being—our infrastructure and agriculture—depend on a reliable climate. This reliability allows farmers to plant seeds in the spring with confidence that temperatures and rainfall will sustain crops in the coming months. It allows communities to build and maintain roads, buildings, and drainage systems best suited to local conditions. Earth’s climate is controlled by the amount of energy that flows through the atmosphere, oceans, and land. By adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere—primarily carbon dioxide—people are increasing the amount of energy in the Earth system that would otherwise escape to space. This increase in energy is changing Earth’s climate, and consequently, the weather patterns that people rely on are shifting. Changes in long-term weather patterns have wide-ranging impacts on ecosystems and peoples’ lives. Designed to observe land and coastal ecosystems, Landsat instruments provide an unparalleled space-based record of the impact of climate change on Earth’s landscapes, the growth and loss of carbon- storing.
Wind, Warm Water Revved Up Melting Antarctic Glaciers
A NASA study has located the Antarctic glaciers that accelerated the fastest between 2008 and 2014 and finds that the most likely cause of their speedup is an observed influx of warm water into the bay where they’re located.
Looking at Larsen C Fracture Mechanics with Landsat
The large rift that eventually formed iceberg A68 initially broke through a suture zone in the southern part of the ice shelf that had previously stabilized neighboring rifts for at least 80 years.
Landsat 'Sees in the Dark' the Evolution of Antarctica’s Delaware-sized Iceberg
The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on Landsat 8 captured a new snap of the 2,240-square-mile iceberg that split off from the Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen C ice shelf on July 10-12.
Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica
The iceberg is about the size of Delaware.
![Landsat time-series images](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170502-nu3-1.png)
Revolutionizing Land Cover and Land Change Research
A new initiative called Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection provides definitive, timely information on how, why, and where the planet is changing.
Using Landsat to Take the Long View on Greenland's Glaciers
A new Landsat-based data portal enables scientists to study in unprecedented detail how fast outlet glaciers such as this one move and change over space and time.