At the Water's Edge
Do you have a favorite beach? Have you ever gone snorkeling or boating? Landsat helps map and monitor those coastal waters and shores.
What Landsat Sees
Landsat images show us how shorelines around the world change from year to year. Did you know that beaches are dynamic, living landscapes? Spend a day on the beach and you see the microscale — in the grains of sand blown by winds, tumbled by the surf, or carried out in your shoes. Spend a week, and you see sandbars and wading pools arise and disappear. Spend a year, and you see dunes grow, shrink, and migrate. When you look across decades using satellites like Landsat, you see the landscape evolving on a wider scale, but still one that humans can experience.
Landsat 5 image of Cape Cod - 1984 (left), and Landsat 8 image of Cape Code - 2020 (right).
Counting Corals
Have you ever gone snorkeling? Have you seen the wonders of a coral reef, alive with sea creatures, up close? Landsat satellites have helped researchers update global maps of coral reefs. The NASA-funded Millennium Project used images from the Landsat 7 satellite to create a detailed, global inventory of reefs. The sensors aboard Landsat 8 and 9 have even better capabilities for measuring reef area and estimating its depth.
Landsat 7 image of Vanua Levu, Fiji - 2002 (left), and Landsat 8 image of Vanua Levu, Fiji - 2015 (right).
Chasing Satellites with Jacques Cousteau
Did you know that information from Landsat imagery has helped boaters too? During the summer of 1975, Jacques Cousteau and his divers helped determine if Landsat could measure the depth of shallow ocean waters.
Research done during that expedition determined that in certain conditions Landsat could measure depths up to 22 meters (72 feet). This knowledge enabled charts in clear water areas around the world to be revised, helping boats and deep-drafted supertankers avoid running aground on hazardous shoals or seamounts.
Jacques Cousteau helped kick-start the field of satellite-based bathymetry.
Dr. Beach's Top 10 Beaches of 2021
For over 30 years, Dr. Beach, aka Dr. Stephen Leatherman, a professor and coast geomorphologist at Florida International University, has created a Top 10 Beach list based on criteria including water and sand quality, safety, and management. You can find his 2021 picks here and see how Landsat views them as well.
Landsat gives us the big picture view of beach behavior through time, so we can better understand the relationship of these sandy shores to their geologic and geographic settings.
What’s your favorite beach?
01 / 10
1
Hapuna Beach State Park, Big Island Hawaii
Landsat 8 collected this image of Hapuna State Park on January 5, 2021.
Dr. Beach says, "Hapuna and the other pocket beaches appear as an oasis in this otherwise fairly bleak landscape except for the areas irrigated as prominently shown on the Landsat imagery by the green vegetation. This volcanically active island is the only place that I know where you can snow ski at the high mountain tops and water ski in the warm ocean water on the same day."
2
Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
Landsat 8 collected this image of Coopers Beach on August 30, 2019.
Dr. Beach says, "This Landsat image shows the fairly large coastal pond named Mecox Bay to the east with the eastern edge of Shinnecock Bay also displayed. I spent several decades conducting scientific studies of this very interest oceanic shoreline because it is so dynamic and the beachfront real estate so expensive."
3
Ocracoke Lifeguard Beach, Outer Banks of North Carolina
Landsat 8 collected this image of Ocracoke Lifeguard Beach on May 3, 2020.
Dr. Beach says, "The Landsat image shows Ocracoke to the north as separated by an inlet from Portsmouth Island... Ocracoke was once the home of the most infamous pirate Blackbeard and is still a very special place—my favorite getaway beach."
4
St. George Island State Park, Florida Panhandle
Landsat 8 collected this image of St. George Island State Park on October 13, 2020.
Dr. Beach says, "While this island was hit hard in 2018 by Hurricane Michael, it has substantially recovered as there was little development to be impacted... The enclosed bay behind St. George Island is fairly shallow and the water much less clear as shown on the Landsat image, but it is not polluted."
5
Lighthouse Beach, Buxton, Outer Banks of North Carolina
Landsat 8 collected this image of Lighthouse Beach on May 3, 2020.
Dr. Beach says, "The Landsat image shows the seaward growth of south flank of Cape Hatteras as evidenced by the parallel lines of beach ridges. Lighthouse Beach, which is guarded, is the number one surfing spot on the US Atlantic Coast as the offshore sand banks, known as Diamond Shoals, cause wave refraction that focuses wave energy on this beach. The Landsat image shows some of the close-to-shore shoals with breaking waves indicating the tops of the massive sand shoals."
6
Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
Landsat 8 collected this image of Duke Kahanamoku Beach on May 17, 2020.
Dr. Beach says, "One of the prominent features on this Landsat image is Diamondhead with its circular shape near the coast. This large cone of an extinct volcano provides the iconic backdrop for photos of Waikiki Beach, one of the ten most famous beaches in the world—it is indicated on the Landsat image as a white sliver of coral sand along the shore."
7
Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin Clearwater, Florida
Landsat 8 collected this image of Caladesi Island State Park on April 9, 2021. Use the arrow at right to see a photograph of the beach.
Dr. Beach says, "Caladesi is no longer a true island as shown on the Landsat image--it is now connected to the developed Clearwater Beach. This state park is easily reached by pedestrian ferry boats from the nearby Honeymoon Island. The stark white undeveloped beach is composed of crystalline quartz sand, which is soft and cushy at the water’s edge."
8
Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
Landsat 8 collected this image of Coronado Beach on April 23, 2020.
Dr. Beach says, "The large rocky headland that points southward, provides shelter from the large plunging breakers generated by winter storms, which provide the little rainfall that this area with a Mediterranean climate receives. The harbor serves as a major port for the Navy’s Pacific fleet, being the home port for several aircraft carriers. The docks and the crossing airplane runways for the Naval base are evident on this Landsat image. Coronado Beach is more than a hundred meters wide and sparkles because it contains mica, which is very unique."
9
Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Landsat 8 collected this image of Beachwalker Park on April 9, 2021.
Dr. Beach says, "This Landsat image shows that the bay is completely filled with salt marshes, making the area highly productive for seafood... These large sandy shoals at the inlets control the sand supply along this series of barrier islands and are continuously changing as well demonstrated on time-lapse Landsat imagery."
10
Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Landsat 8 collected this image of Coast Guard Beach on May 1, 2021.
Dr. Beach says, "The inlet is not navigable except with small boats and changes it orientation and even position over time as clearly shown on Landsat imagery. In my early days as a Professor at Boston University and later at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I spent many summer and some winter-time days conducting scientific studies along this barrier beach. The great Nor’easter of February 6-7, 1978 generated large breaking waves and overwash surges that completely destroyed the large National Park Service parking lot and bathhouse that resided on the low-lying barrier beach."
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Postcards From Camp Landsat
Whatever you do for summer fun, wherever you go to relax, Landsat is there. Landsat data helps people manage, protect, and preserve some of your favorite places on Earth.
Collect all nine postcards from Camp Landsat continuing with Week 3: Beaches & Reefs !
The adventure continues at Camp Landsat with lots of fun and fascinating Landsat facts and activities.
