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Posted on April 4th, 2023

30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month – Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil


These Worldview-3 images exhibit the mesmerizing Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Brazil. The park lays on the eastern coast of Brazil, along the Atlantic Ocean. It includes 380,000 acres of coastal dunes, the largest field of sand dunes in South America. During the rainy season each year, between January and June, the dunes become interwoven with thousands of crystalline freshwater lagoons. The rainwater remains in the valleys of the dunes due to a layer of bedrock beneath the sand, preventing it from seeping into the earth. When the rainy season ends, the pools quickly evaporate in the desert-like climate of the area. Tourists flock to see the otherworldly beauty of these ephemeral lagoons, renting Jeeps or booking tours to explore. Visitors can even swim in the lagoons if they are deep enough, temperatures of the lagoons have been measured as high as 87 degrees Fahrenheit. These 30-cm WorldView-3 images of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil were captured on March 7, 2021. The two images give a remarkable aerial perspective of the freshwater rivers and lagoons formed among the dunes during the rainy season. It’s easy to see why the landscape draws so many tourists each year.  This 30-cm WorldView-3 imagery has been processed by Apollo Mapping for improved perspective, clarity and colors. (Satellite Imagery © 2023 Maxar Technologies)

Every time we look at WorldView-3 and WorldView-4 (WV3/4) imagery, we are blown away. And we hope you are equally impressed with the data! In March, we looked at Sand Mountain, Nevada here in the USA. For this edition of the 30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month we’re headed to Brazil to check out Lençóis Maranhenses National Park.

WorldView-3 launched in late 2014 and WorldView-4 launched in late 2016; taken together they are the most advanced satellite constellation the commercial marketplace has ever had access to. Here are a few of the features that really set these satellites apart from the competition:

  • Improved Resolution
    • Higher resolution means you can see more detail in WV3/4 imagery.
    • Data collected at nadir will have 31-centimeter (cm) panchromatic, 1.24-meter (m) visible and near infrared, 3.7-m SWIR (WV3 only) and 30-m CAVIS (WV3 only) bands.
    • At 20 degrees off-nadir, the resolution is 34-cm panchromatic, 1.38-m visible and near infrared and 4.1-m shortwave infrared.
  • Additional Spectral Bands
    • If spectral analysis is part of your project, then no other satellite can match WV3 with its: 8 bands of visible and near-infrared data; and 8 shortwave infrared bands which are crucial for geological studies.
  • Better Positional Accuracy
    • With accuracies of 3.5-m CE90% or better (without ground control even!), WV3/4 has no rivals for its enhanced positional accuracy.
  • Daily Revisits
    • At 40 degrees latitude, WV3 is able to image every location daily with 1-meter or better resolution and then every 4.5 days at 34-cm resolution or better.
    • WV4 is no longer collecting new imagery.
  • Increased Collection Capacity
    • WV3/4 feature 13.1-km swath widths (at nadir) with the ability to collect up to 680,000 square kilometer (sq km) of high-resolution data per day per satellite (though WV4 is dead now).
    • Improved control movement gyros translate into larger maximum contiguous collection areas per pass, with up to ~7,500 sq km of mono imagery and ~3,000 sq km of stereo possible.

If you are interested in WorldView-3 and/or WorldView-4 imagery for your next project, please let us know by phone, 303-993-3863, or by email, sales@apollomapping.com.

You can also find more WV3 samples and technical information on our website here and then WV4 samples and information can be found here.

2 Responses to 30-cm Color WorldView-3/4 Image of the Month – Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil

  1. Fantastic images… are new perspectives to be opened for human knowledge about our planet

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