Urban expansion of Salt Lake City

The population of Salt Lake City has grown by around 20% since the 1980s. Increased water demand due to the large number of inhabitants in the surrounding area is one of the reasons of the Great Salt Lake’s desertification.

This image utilises data from the World Settlement Footprint to highlight the urban expansion occurring between 1985 to 2019. The World Settlement Footprint is the world’s most comprehensive dataset on human settlement created to improve the understanding of current trends in global urbanisation. The World Settlement Footprint is a joint project by ESA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), in collaboration with the Google Earth Engine team.

Read full story: Utah’s Great Salt Lake is disappearing