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This year is the 150^th Anniversary of John Wesley Powell’s expedition to explore the Colorado River, a 1,450-mile long waterway that runs through the Western United States and into Mexico.

For centuries, people living in what is now the Netherlands have used various strategies to control water levels in the low-lying country. Beginning in 1932, Dutch engineers created a series of dikes to drain water from an inlet of the North Sea called the IJsselmeer. The reclamation increased the land area of the Netherlands that could be used for agriculture.

The summer of 2019 has been marked by wildfires across the Arctic. Millions of square miles have burned or are burning in the U.S.

The northern reaches of the Greenland Ice Sheet typically stay below the freezing point year-round. In summer, some melting near the coast is not unusual, but the extent of melting this summer was rare.

These infrared satellite images were collected on May 24, 2019 over the Washington, D.C. area.

Before / after image showing transportation features (before image) and structures / orthoimagery features (after image) from a 3/7/19 US Topo map.

A landscape at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area 2 months and 9 months after summer 2018's Carr Fire near Redding, California, where USGS WERC researchers are studying fire impacts, post-fire vegetation recovery, and post-fire erosion and debris flows.

A landscape at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area 2 months and 9 months after summer 2018's Carr Fire near Redding, California, where USGS WERC researchers are studying fire impacts, post-fire vegetation recovery, and post-fire erosion and debris flows.

A landscape at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area 2 months and 9 months after summer 2018's Carr Fire near Redding, California, where USGS WERC researchers are studying fire impacts, post-fire vegetation recovery, and post-fire erosion and debris flows.

A landscape at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area 2 months and 9 months after summer 2018's Carr Fire near Redding, California, where USGS WERC researchers are studying fire impacts, post-fire vegetation recovery, and post-fire erosion and debris flows.

The most cratered landscape on Earth is a Nevada desert called Yucca Flat. The craters are the remnants of decades of nuclear tests conducted by the United States since early in the Cold War.

The Missouri River experienced severe flooding in 2011, but flooding in 2019 has been more extensive. The first image, from Landsat 5, shows flooding in June of 2011.

Landsat images from March of 2018 and March of 2019 show a stretch of the Missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn rivers in a full scene that stretches from just north of Sioux City, IA, to south of Omaha, NE. The first image shows the rivers at normal levels.

Images from the Sentinel-2B satellite show the impact of 2019 Missouri River flooding on the Midwest. The first image shows the area in March of 2018, with rivers at typical levels. The second shows the Missouri River and its tributaries after heavy flooding. 

Nearly four inches of rain in 30 hours drenched the second-largest city in Afghanistan at the beginning of March, causing flash floods that killed at least 20 people, collapsed homes and swept away moving vehicles.

These Landsat 8 images depict the damage done by the Great Pine Tier fire in Tasmania’s Central Plateau. The first image was acquired on Jan. 13, 2019, three days before the Tasmania Fire Service announced that lightning strikes had ignited dozens of fires across the island state.

Landsat 7 was overhead on Saturday, June 25, 2011 as the Souris River in Minot, North Dakota exceeded the 1881 flooding record by over 4 feet.

These images show the impact of the Gell River fire, which began in December 2018. Landsat 8’s Operational Land Imager acquired the first on Nov. 17, 2018. Clouds cover Mt. Field National Park in the image, rendered using bands 7, 5, and 3.

Alexandria, Louisiana
2006 to 2050 Land-cover Change
IPCC SRES B2 Scenario

Phoenix, Arizona
2006 to 2050 Land-cover Change
IPCC SRES B1 Scenario

Washington / Baltimore Area
2006 to 2050 Land-cover Change
IPCC SRES A2 Scenario