Tag Archives: land cover change

Agricultural involution in the IJsselmeer, Netherlands

NASA Earth Observatory shows agricultural development and divisions on reclaimed land in the man-made IJsselmeer in the Netherlands. Over time the heterogenity of the newly created land shown in the image as fields are divided and land uses have diversified.

NASA image of land reclamation in NL

NASA Earth Observatory explains:

NASA’s Landsat satellites captured repeated images of IJsselmeer, and recorded changes on one such polder, shown in the top-middle part of each image. Landsat 2 took the top picture on September 8, 1980. Landsat 5 took the middle picture on May 23, 1989. Landsat 7 captured the bottom image on July 1, 2006. In these false-color images, red indicates vegetation, and the brighter the red, the more robust the plant life. Water appears navy blue. Pavement and bare soil range in color from pale blue to gray-green.