nasa


Spatial Analysis

Retreat of the Helheim Glacier between 2001 and 2005. Images from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite.Retreat of the Helheim Glacier between 2001 and 2005. Images from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Creating a Time Series Visualization of Two Decades of Changes in a Glacier

Spatial Analysis

NASA has created a time series visualization of Greenland’s Helheim Glacier using 20 years of data from radar, lasers, and high-resolution cameras.

Spatial Analysis

Sudden Landslide Identification Product (SLIP) developed by NASA detects landslide potential by analyzing satellite imagery for changes in soil moisture, muddiness, and other surface features. The Landsat 8 satellite capture the left and middle images on September 15, 2013, and September 18, 2014—before and after the Jure landslide in Nepal on August 2, 2014. The processed image on the right shows areas in red indicating a probable landslide and areas in yellow showing a possible landslide. Source: NASA.Sudden Landslide Identification Product (SLIP) developed by NASA detects landslide potential by analyzing satellite imagery for changes in soil moisture, muddiness, and other surface features. The Landsat 8 satellite capture the left and middle images on September 15, 2013, and September 18, 2014—before and after the Jure landslide in Nepal on August 2, 2014. The processed image on the right shows areas in red indicating a probable landslide and areas in yellow showing a possible landslide. Source: NASA.

Using Remote Sensing to Automate the Detection of Landslides

Spatial Analysis

The Sudden Landslide Identification Product (SLIP) developed by NASA detects landslide potential by analyzing satellite imagery for changes in soil moisture, muddiness, and other surface features.

Spatial Analysis

The 2015 earthquakes caused great damage in Bhakatpur, Nepal. These photos are overlaid on a damage proxy map derived from COSMO-SkyMed satellite data. Colors show increasingly significant change in terrain/building properties (including surface roughness and soil moisture). Red is most severe. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Google/DigitalGlobe/CNES/Astrium/Amy MacDonald/Thornton TomasettiThe 2015 earthquakes caused great damage in Bhakatpur, Nepal. These photos are overlaid on a damage proxy map derived from COSMO-SkyMed satellite data. Colors show increasingly significant change in terrain/building properties (including surface roughness and soil moisture). Red is most severe. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Google/DigitalGlobe/CNES/Astrium/Amy MacDonald/Thornton Tomasetti

Developing Earthquake Damage Maps from Satellite Imagery

Spatial Analysis

Researchers are working on developing remotely sensed maps that may assist locals in assessing damage and managing the aftermath with future earthquakes.

GIS Data

GRACE based shallow groundwater drought indicator map for July 7, 2014. Source: NASA.GRACE based shallow groundwater drought indicator map for July 7, 2014. Source: NASA.

Using Remote Sensing to Measure the Affect of Drought on Ground Water

GIS Data

Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have been experimenting with a new data product to assess groundwater and soil moisture drought indicators. The maps produced are used by the U.S. Drought Monitor and use data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites.   In 2002, the GRACE satellites were launched […]

GIS Data

This image is a portion of the first Landsat 8 scene acquired May 12, 2013 (Path 107, Rows 70-71) in Western Australia. Geoscience Australia, a Landsat International Cooperator and a Landsat Science Team Member, produced this enhanced image. Water and land were masked, separately enhanced, and then reassembled.The water patterns are the result of an RGB display of the Landsat 8 red, blue, and ultra-blue bands (bands 4, 2, 1) and the land is shown using SWIR, NIR, and green (bands 6, 5, 3). The resulting image displays impressive sediment and nutrient patterns in the tropical estuary area, and the complex patterns and conditions in the vegetated areas.

First Landsat Spacecraft Launched – Today in Geospatial – July 23

GIS Data

On July 23, 1972, the first Landsat spacecraft was launched.  At the time it was known as the Earth Resources Technology Satellite and it was the first satellite launched to study the earth’s landmasses.  In 1975, the name was changed to Landsat.  Since then, this program has been continuously monitoring changes […]

GIS Data

Map showing what the soil moisture conditions around the planet were like in August 2013: dry areas are represented in the brown scale, while wetter areas are in blue and green. Image Credit: NASA Goddard's Science Visualization Studio/T. Schindler

Mapping Soil Moisture from Space

GIS Data

Soil moisture might not be considered a critical factor to the health of our planet but a series of satellite missions are proving otherwise. Scientists recently created maps from NASA’s Aquarius satellite of soil moisture, or the amount of water contained within soil particles, across the globe. These maps have […]

GIS Data

First Images from GPM Microwave Imager: The image shows rain rates across a 550-mile (885 kilometer) wide swath of an extra-tropical cyclone observed off the coast of Japan on March 10, 2014. Red areas indicate heavy rainfall, while yellow and blue indicate less intense rainfall. In the northwest part of the storm in the upper left of the image, the blue areas indicate falling snow.

NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement

GIS Data

Water is essential for life on the Earth, and the supply of this precious liquid is constantly being recycled through energy from the sun. This process is known as the hydrologic cycle, and through it water is continuously exchanged between the land, the atmosphere, and the oceans. Precipitation in its […]

GIS Data

Shipping data from ICOADS US Maury collection. Visualization: Ben Schmidt.

Mapping Ship Logs

GIS Data

Ship logs contain a wealth of geographic data within them.  The Old Weather Project is building a database of historical weather information extracted through crowdsourced efforts.  Now, Ben Schmidt, who is an assistant professor of history at Northeastern University, has mapped out historical shipping routes.  The resulting visualization looks like a jumbled […]