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Subscribe to RSSIn honor of Landsat 5's birthday, NASA shows how Las Vegas has grown since 1972.
What sprawls in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. Time-lapse images from the Landsat series of Earth-monitoring satellites reveal in false-color, multispectral imagery how urban sprawl has stretched out from Nevada's "Sin City" over the past four decades. This latest video was posted by NASA in honor of the 28th anniversary of Landsat 5's launch on March 1, but the pictures actually go back to 1972, when the Landsat program began. Such images help planners keep track of the pace of development, which may affect future water use, zoning regulations and other policies. Want to see how your own area has changed between 1975 and 2000? Check out this "ChangeMatters" viewer from ESRI.
More cool views from Landsat:
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Now that's what I call urbanization.
Fascinating yet depressing at the same time. You can see the light pollution of all this from Death Valley. One question though, what is going to happen to Las Vegas when they run out of water? Surely this rampant sprawl is unsustainable.
Yep, reminds me of Fallout 3. It'll be like that.. One gigantic ghost-town.
If they had the exact same imagery from the Phoenix valley we would no doubt see the same kind of urban sprawl if not more. Water sustainability is a HUGE issue, altho the Cali Inland Empire uses the most water in the West if I am not mistaken...
Horrible.
Now let's see it in reverse.
Alan!!
Very cool, indeed!! :) thankx
Looks like a disease.
Calvin, It is a disease, it's called the human race, just wait 'till Britney Spears get's there to live.
And sadly this doesn't show the homeless living underground in the Storm Water Canals, that's another few hundred, WOW.
Vegas of the 1980's was still glitzy but also not the mess it is now, wish I could go back there now.
Vegas, like a cancer grows...
Unfortunately this is happening EVERYWHERE. I moved out of Bergen County, NJ in the early 80's to the relative peace and quiet of the Great Northwest, and now Washington State, particularly the Seattle area is following the New Jersey suburbs pattern, where small towns become small cities, and small cities become metropolises. In decades to come I fear that Montana will start to resemble Manhattan!
WOW HOLY COW,, from like 1975 to 1979 I believe I seen Tony "the ant" Spiltoro Whack bout' 13 people out in the desert in that satellite image and the part in 1977,, you could see Clint Eastwood being shot up in that house - with "Gus Mallory" ( Sandra Locke) - ( the Gauntlet 1977), and look close you can also see those 2 Wise guys meeting in the desert and that cloud of dust and Robert Deniro (Frank Rosenthaul) lookin at all those holes in the desert,, Ohhh and even Nicholas Cage scootin in on that "Con Air" plane too right down the Vegas Strip , WOW, WOW , WOW is all I can say, then again, maybe i'm just seein things and a tad bit off ma Rocker :):):) !!!
And today you can buy a house there for about $30, 000 !
God bless America.
Moved there in 1993 - paid $230K for my house. Sold it and left LV in 2006 for $520K. Today it is on the market (foreclosed) for $207K.