Life Histories from Landsat: 25 Years in the Pacific Northwest Forest

This visualization shows a sequence of annual, Landsat-based data sets in the Pacific Northwest which represent an aggregate of the approximate peak of the growing season (around August). The data was created using a sophisticated algorithm called LandTrendr which analyzes 'stacks' of Landsat scenes, looking for statistical trends in the data and filtering out noise. LandTrendr evaluated data from more than 1,800 Landsat Thematic Mapper images, nearly 1 Terabyte of raw imagery, to define the life histories of each of more than 336 million pixels on the landscape. The resulting trends identify periods of stability and change that are displayed as colors.