In this monthly feature, we span the globe to examine Our Changing Landscape with a time series of medium-resolution PlanetScope satellite imagery. The PlanetScope constellation dates back to 2016 and collects hundreds of millions of square kilometers of four and eight-band 3-meter imagery daily! In December, we looked at the collapse of the Arba’at Dam and its flooding of Sudan. For the January edition of this series, we are headed to Asheville, North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene caused widespread damage in late September.

The PlanetScope Microsat Constellation

Click on the image above to see an animation of 3-meter natural color PlanetScope image collected over Asheville, North Carolina on September 22 and October 5, 2024. For those readers based in the USA, I am sure you are aware of the level of destruction our fellow friends in Asheville experienced, it is heart aching. For the rest of our readers, in this before and after Hurricane Helene animation, focus your attention along the river corridor where the destruction was the most drastic and obvious in this 3-m PlanetScope data. (Images Courtesy: © Planet 2025)

PlanetScope is a constellation of more than 240 microsats referred to individually as Doves. Each Dove is able to collect up to 20,000 square kilometers (sq km) per day of 3-meter (m) 4-band multispectral (i.e. blue, green, red and near-infrared [NIR]) imagery; and newly launched SuperDoves collect 8-band multispectral adding in valuable red-edge spectral data. Across the constellation, PlanetScope is archiving more than 200 million sq km of medium-resolution imagery a day, making it the go to source for daily imagery over most locations. This massive archive dates back to 2016, offering the most complete and continuous record of spatial data on the planet since the start of the constellation’s ongoing launch schedule. Collecting 3-meter multispectral imagery is the equivalent of ‘high-resolution’ multispectral data imaged by a 75-centimer (cm) satellite (as this satellite would feature 75-cm panchromatic and 3-m multispectral), making PlanetScope an extremely competitively priced option at just $2.25 per sq km. With well registered images and nearly daily collections of most locations, PlanetScope is the ideal imagery source for this current-events focused series, Our Changing Landscape.

The Wrath of Hurricane Helene on Asheville, North Carolina

Hurricane Helene became the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Bend region of Florida, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane since Maria in 2017, and the deadliest to strike the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. As the second major hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, Helene started to form on September 22nd in the western Caribbean Sea. By September 24th, it had become a tropical storm as it approached the Yucatán Peninsula, then became a hurricane early on September 25th. Helene reached Category 4 intensity on the evening of September 26th and made landfall at peak intensity in the Big Bend region of Florida with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph.

Helene moved quickly inland before degenerating to a post-tropical cyclone over Tennessee on September 27th. Helene dumped nearly 14 inches of rain through September 27th on cities along the Blue Ridge Mountains, including Asheville. Widespread flooding led to missing people and pets, houses and entire towns being swept away, thousands left without power and many roads and bridges wiped off the map. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper told USA Today that Helene had become, “One of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina.”

The statewide death toll from Helene in North Carolina now stands at 96, officials told The New York Times. More than 20 people remain missing, as of October 22nd. Ashville remains under a boil-water notice as employees work to clean the North Fork reservoir. Three weeks after the storm, schools and government offices prepared to reopen amid prolonged power outages and water service disruptions. In Asheville, officials lifted a citywide curfew on Monday, and the school district announced classes will resume next week. Major attractions, including the North Carolina Arboretum and the Biltmore Estate, were preparing to reopen. Asheville residents and the city continue with cleanup efforts and rely on a designated processing site for staging, grinding and compacting unwanted debris.

Scientists and researchers believe the increasingly warmer waters of the Gulf spawn these catastrophic storms. According to Brian McNoldy, a climatologist at the University of Miami, the Gulf is currently the hottest it has ever been in the modern record. Recent measurements show the surface temperature nearing 90 degrees Fahrenheit, making a dip in the water feel more like stepping into a bath. “Warmer ocean temperatures cause increased evaporation, transferring more moisture into the atmosphere. This added moisture, coupled with the atmosphere’s greater capacity to hold water vapor as temperatures rise, sets the stage for heavier rainfall when conditions are right. The combination of warm ocean waters and a moisture-rich atmosphere also fuels stronger storms, which can produce more intense and prolonged rainfall,” scientists stated.

If you would like to find out more about using 3-meter PlanetScope imagery for your academic studies, engineering projects or any landscape analysis, let us know at sales@apollomapping.com or (303) 993-3863.