A series of maps showing land use in 1850 and 1920.
Published Feb 9, 2008
Differences in how international and national institutions classify forests can lead to large discrepancies in measurements of land cover.
Published Nov 17, 2015
What did Central America look like at the height of the Mayan civilization? Probably different than you think.
Published Feb 2, 2012
Land use decisions may have altered climate and contributed to the collapse of Mayan society in the tenth century.
Published Feb 1, 2012
Political change in Eastern Europe and Russia has left its mark on forests in the region.
Published Jul 16, 2015
Satellites help land managers and city planners track city growth and ecosystem health around Portland, Oregon.
Published Aug 2, 2012
By changing a percentage, institutions can take some forested lands off the map.
Published Dec 18, 2015
Acquired May 27, 2003, this true-color Landsat ETM image shows part of a plantation in Malaysian Borneo, along the edge of the forest. The area outlined in white in the ETM image appears in greater detail in the image acquired on June 18, 2002, by the commercial satellite Ikonos. The images show the differences between forest, cleared land, and palm plantation.
Published Sep 10, 2009
To celebrate Earth Day, Earth Observatory released a series of five puzzlers. Except for Thetford forest, all showed landscapes relatively untouched by human society.
Published Apr 27, 2013
South America’s second-largest forest has been experiencing rapid tree losses in recent decades.
Published May 20, 2020
Since the mid-1200s, the state has controlled Niepołomice Forest, which contains some of the last pockets of old-growth forest in Poland.
Published Nov 29, 2013
The Chinese city has reclaimed land from shallow coastal waters at a rapid rate.
Published Dec 11, 2019
Wildfires make a significant mark on the bird’s nesting and roosting habitat.
Published Dec 23, 2019
The opening of the Landsat data archive and a partnership with Google has allowed researchers to track the fine details of forest change around the world.
Published May 7, 2015
Forests are being turned into rubber plantations, farmland, and timber at a rapid rate.
Published Jan 10, 2017
The Madre de Dios region has a rich concentration of endemic species, but their habitats are being threatened by human activity.
Published Apr 19, 2019
A labor of love in the Argentine Pampas becomes a work of art for the planet.
Published Apr 27, 2014
Farms in the historic Oltenia province display a compelling array of shapes and sizes.
Published Oct 14, 2020
A three-dimensional view of an Alaskan forest is just one way scientists are tracking vegetation changes in the Tanana Valley.
Published Jul 27, 2016
In British Columbia’s Coast Mountains, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) inland from the Pacific Ocean, rivers and lakes cut tortuous paths through rugged terrain. The peaks and valleys in this region are covered with forest, but the forest has changed over the years due to human use and insect pests, in particular, the mountain pine beetle.
Published Oct 12, 2008
