The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in conjunction with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), has made all of the imaging data collected by Japan’s Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, which operates aboard a NASA satellite, freely available to the public. The ASTER data includes more than 2.95 million images dating back to 1999 that can help researchers map and study subtle changes on the Earth’s surface, which is used for a wide variety of environmental applications such as tracking glacial advances and retreats, analyzing changes in wetlands, and monitoring crop stress.
Image: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.