OBSERVATION / 015

A forest between the channels.

Landsat mosaic of the Sundarbans, where branching waterways divide dark mangrove forest beside lighter agricultural land.

NASA Earth Observatory / Jesse Allen · UMD Global Land Cover Facility

Location: The Sundarbans / Bangladesh & India
Image acquired: November 24, 1999; November 17 and 26, 2000
Platform / instrument: Landsat 7 / ETM+
Image type: Multi-date satellite mosaic

Field notes

Branching channels divide dark mangrove forest into a maze of islands along the Bay of Bengal. The Sundarbans extends across southwestern Bangladesh and southeastern India, beside a lighter patchwork of farms and settlements.

This image combines three Landsat observations from November 1999 and November 2000. It is a mosaic, rather than a photograph of one moment. The contrast between forest, waterways, and neighboring land use reveals the shape of this low-lying coastal landscape.

Read NASA’s full account ↗

This is dated source imagery. The homepage overlay is a graphic treatment, not a georeferenced measurement.