NASA has already spotted Northern Canada's seasonal colour change from space
NASA's Landsat 9 satellite has captured imagery showing the rapid seasonal transition of tundra vegetation in Nunavut, Canada. The photos reveal a dramatic shift from green summer plant life to autumn colors over a six-week period.
Why it matters
Satellite monitoring of seasonal changes provides critical data for scientists studying the impact of climate change on fragile subarctic ecosystems.
Fall colours come early in the tundra and subarctic ecosystems of Nunavut, says NASA, as their satellite imagery gives us a glimpse of the seasonal colour change that's already happened in far northern Canada.
Roughly 700 kilometres above Earth's surface, a compact-car-sized satellite known as Landsat 9 circles the planet once every 99 minutes. Cameras on board the satellite constantly snap pictures of the landscape below it, capturing 180 km-wide swaths of the surface from pole to pole to pole on each orbit.
Landsat-9's polar orbit is shown here as of day 6 of its orbital cycle, with each pass the satellite makes filling in imagery captured by its cameras. Inset, top right: an artist's conception drawing of Landsat 9 satellite with its solar panel deployed. (NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio)
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in