Satellites in Environmental Science One of the important sources of environmental information and monitoring
is satellite data. Satellite imagery is available from the National
Atmospheric and Space Agency (NASA). 1. What are some of the current topics shown in images on this page?
Have you heard or read about these topics in the news? 2. If you have a fast internet connection, go to the large
maps : Click on the NDVI option in the table of themes. NDVI (normalized
difference vegetation index) is a measure of how green the vegetation is. Then
click on the current month in the table of months and years. Compare the current
month to several at different times of year. Find you location on the map. Can
you identify local features that should (or should not) be green in the various
months? What effect does the amount of vegetation in your area have on local
environmental conditions? If satellites had existed 100 years ago, how might
the view they would have shown differed from what we see today? | 
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education