Georgia and Landsat

Abstract

Georgia’s nickname is “The Peach State” for its fruitful production, but it also could be called “The State of Abundance.” Georgia ranks in the top 10 States for population, at more than 10 million residents, and 6 million residents are in the greater Atlanta area. Georgia also ranks in the top 10 States for forest areas with 24 million acres, or about two-thirds of the State. Its trees vary from deciduous hardwoods and pines to cypress and magnolias. Georgia has diverse ecosystems, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northeast to the hilly, populous Piedmont region in the middle to the vast Coastal Plains that cover the southern half of the State with farms, forests, and wetlands. The State’s 14 major river basins, including the Chattahoochee and the Savannah, ultimately drain to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of America. Millions of acres of wetlands include floodplain wetlands, freshwater swamps such as the Okefenokee Swamp, and coastal marshes. More than a dozen barrier islands lie off Georgia’s coastline. Wildlife in these myriad habitats include black bears, alligators, armadillos, manatees, sea turtles, and more than 40 species of snakes. The Landsat satellite imagery scale and its 50-year record of Earth observations make Landsat ideal for monitoring changes in these diverse environments and supporting decision-making by government officials and land managers.