When Landsat 7 imaged Dubai on July 6, 2000, the city was barely visible against the desert landscape. Long straight roads sweep down the coast, and a single harbor juts into the Gulf. Though it seems small in this image, the city was growing quickly as a trade center, oil producer, and member of the United Arab Emirates.

Between 2000 and 2010, Dubai transformed entirely. In this Landsat 7 image, taken on October 6, 2010, dense gray city blocks are surrounded by plant-covered land, which is olive green. Artificial islands dot the coast. Dubai’s growth is built on tourism, trade, and oil.

NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available over the Internet. The next Landsat satellite, now known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and later to be called Landsat 8, is scheduled for launch in 2013.

In honor of Landsat’s 40th anniversary in July 2012, the USGS released the LandsatLook viewer – a quick, simple way to go forward and backward in time, pulling images of anywhere in the world out of the Landsat archive.

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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