Earth-observing Landsat satellites have been capturing images of the planet’s surface since 1972. Landsat 8 is the newest satellite in the program, a joint effort between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. It launched Feb. 11, 2013, and collects more than 400 images per day. New and archived Landsat data are available free to the public over the internet – and researchers have put the data to a multitude of uses. One is called the National Urban Change Indicator, or NUCI, created by MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, LTD. It’s the results from a process that mines Landsat images over a 27-year period to identify areas of “permanent change,” where soil has been paved over for parking lots or other concrete structures.
NUCI results act as a red flag for FEMA, helping the agency focus its mapping efforts and budget. But if maps identify a high risk of floods for a certain community, residents can take action, including elevating houses, building flood barricades, and more.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 344827, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11506/#media_group_344827", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Landsat data is used by MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, LTD to make the National Urban Change Indicator, or NUCI. The process identifies areas of “permanent change,” where soil has been paved over for parking lots or other concrete structures. Areas of urban change indicate where flood risk maps might need to be updated.
For complete transcript, click here.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
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Take this suburb of Atlanta, Georgia as an example. By mining Landsat images spanning a 27 year period, it's possible to identify areas where the land surface has permanently changed and affect the areas ability to absorb water.The river to the Northwest is the Chattahoochee River. The \"Y\"-shaped roads are Interstate 85 (upper branch) and Route 316 (lower branch). As the years go by, one can see the Mall of Georgia being built in the upper middle part of the screen, immediately north of Interstate 85. Surrounding neighborhoods sprout up throughout this whole area as we move through time. This animation was created for use in a NASA video on water run-off changes related to urban sprawl titled \"FEMA Risk Map\". || ", "release_date": "2013-06-30T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:02.073314-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 466848, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004000/a004062/annotMallOGA.1800.jpg", "filename": "annotMallOGA.1800.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animation of a Northeastern suburb of Atlanta from 1984 to 2010 through the eyes of Landsat satellite images. The animation begins with a view of the United States and zooms into the Atlanta suburb, which then cycles through Landsat images of the area from 1984 to 2010. While the animation moves through time, the viewer should be able to see the Mall of Georgia spring into existence along with the growth of all the surrounding neighborhoods.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }