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Fast and easy access to dynamic worldwide, multi-spectral, multi-temporal Landsat data for your projects. This is a great resource for observing and analyzing land use changes.

"ut the truth is that satellites are so last century-so much, in fact, that scientists have begun using them to document historical changes. The above picture, from NASA's 38-year-old Landsat program, shows the Lake Djoudj region of Senegal during a drought in 1979 and during a flood 20 years later. Even at this small scale it's clear how much information the pictures contain about how the land has changed."

Great connection to "Bird's Eye View of Changing Landscapes." "China's Pearl River Delta has experienced massive urbanization since the early 1970s. Derived from Landsat imagery, this animation shows urban expansion between 1973 and 1999."

"[Noreen] Thomas [a farmer] enjoys this view from hundreds of miles above Earth's surface -- not just for the beauty, but the utility. She is among a growing group of Midwest farmers who rely on satellite imagery from Landsat to maximize their harvest and minimize damage to their fields. It's become another crucial tool like their tractors and sprinklers."

Google's global, zoomable time-lapse map illustrates land use change phenomena such as the sprouting of Dubai's artificial Palm Islands, the retreat of Alaska's Columbia Glacier, deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, and urban growth in Las Vegas. "Using Google Earth Engine technology, we sifted through 2,068,467 images-a total of 909 terabytes of data-to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. We then compiled these into enormous planetary images, 1.78 terapixels each, one for each year. As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation."

Jim found this site but is too shy to post it on Diigo. It has side-by-side imagery showing 1975, 2000, and change in vegetative cover in that time interval. Searchable by location.