Landsat View: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The landlocked western African nation of Burkina Faso experienced a 200 percent increase in urban population between 1975 and 2000. As a result, the area of the capital city Ouagadougou grew 14-fold during this period.

These Landsat images show the city expanding outward from its center in the two decades between 1986 and 2006. On Nov. 18, 1986, the Landsat 5 satellite acquired this image of the capital. This false-color image shows vegetation in shades of green and gray, water in various shades of blue, and urban areas in pink and purple. The runway of the city’s airport can be seen as a long straight line that extends from southwest to northeast south of the large lake, Bois de Boulogne.

Two decades later, on Oct. 16, 2006 Landsat 7 acquired this image of Ouagadougou. Growth radiated from the city center in all directions. The green strip of vegetation north of Bois de Boulogne has been paved over and a massive new development including a large thoroughfare and traffic circle can be seen south of the airport.

----

NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available over the Internet. The next Landsat satellite, now known as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) and later to be called Landsat 8, is scheduled for launch in 2013.

In honor of Landsat’s 40th anniversary in July 2012, the USGS released the LandsatLook viewer – a quick, simple way to go forward and backward in time, pulling images of anywhere in the world out of the Landsat archive.

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

Follow us on Twitter