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A false-colour satellite image of the Pearl River Delta in 1979, dominated by red vegetation and branching blue-green waterways with few grey built-up areas.

19 October 1979 · False-colour Landsat satellite image

Pearl River Delta, 19 October 1979

Jesse Allen, using Landsat 3 MSS data provided by the University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility

Why it matters

NASA published this image beside a 2003 observation to visualise the effects of urbanisation following the creation of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. The later comparison turned an already inhabited agricultural delta into a retrospective “before” image of reform.

Publication
NASA Earth Observatory
Holding institution
NASA Earth Observatory
Shelfmark
Image of the Day 7949; pearlriver_l3_1979292_lrg.jpg
Rights
Public domain NASA and USGS Landsat imagery; acknowledgement requested

Allen, Jesse. Pearl River Delta, 19 October 1979. Landsat 3 MSS false-colour image. NASA Earth Observatory, Image of the Day 7949.

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