Not so green and pleasant land
STUNNING images from space show just how much the heatwave has scorched Greater Manchester’s usually lush greenery.
Within just two months, parks and fields have been reduced to yellowing dustbowls.
Mapping experts used images beamed back to Earth by two European Space Agency satellites to compile a collection of visuals which show how the landscape has burned and changed.
They show the impact of the soaring temperatures, including at Reddish Vale Country Park.
Land and property surrounding the parks are also captured – alongside the drastic change to Manchester city centre.
The first images – taken on May 5 – show masses of greenery and vegetation. Fast forward two months, to July 4 and the picture is very different. Luscious landscapes have become scorched and bare as the heat clearly takes its toll.
All the images were captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites which are part of the Copernicus global monitoring programme, a joint venture between the European Commission and the European Space Agency.
There are two separate satellites; Sentinel-2A was launched in 2015 and Sentinel-2B last year.
Both work simultaneously at opposite sides of their orbits at an altitude of 488 miles above the Earth’s surface. Between them they orbit the planet 14 times a day and can capture every part of the planet at least every five days.
The maps were created by mapping and analytics company, Esri UK.
Ben Flanagan, technical research lead, said: “We wanted to visualise the impact of the recent heatwave on Greater Manchester’s green space, using images captured from the satellites. Comparing July with May, it’s possible to observe notable changes to the colour and health of the city’s vegetation. The Sentinel-2 satellites capture multi-spectral imagery in the visible, near infrared and short wave infrared parts of the spectrum. For this project, we have harnessed the imagery’s visible range as these are the bands the human eye can see.
“Other bands, including short wave infrared can be used to detect heat, such as the recent fires on Winter Hill and Saddleworth Moor.
“Organisations around the world use earth observation data such as Sentinel-2 for applications including; land and sea monitoring, natural disasters mapping and sea ice observations.”
The rain may return in spells, but experts say the tinder-dry conditions are here to stay with no let up to the hot, dry weather.
The highest temperature in the UK so far this year was recorded in Santon Downham, Suffolk, last Monday – when the mercury hit a sweltering 33.3C. The highest-ever UK temperature recorded in July came in 2015 at Heathrow Airport – 36.7C – and the highest UK temperature since records began was on August 10, 2003, in Faversham, Kent – 38.5C.
Greater Manchester recorded its highest ever temperature - 33.7C – during the famous drought-plagued summer of 1976.