GroundTruth TV: Birdsville

This new media work is compiled from an enormous storehouse of Landsat satellite imagery at the Ecosciences Precinct at Boggo Road. This is the painstaking work of Department of Science Information Technology & Innovation’s remote-sensing scientists who utilise Landsat satellite imagery from the US Geological Survey to monitor, map and track changes to Queensland’s land surface.

This imagery is often breathtakingly beautiful. Yet in the hands of scientists trained to interpret the tiniest detail, they are sources of valuable data that can be used to analyse change, from urban expansion to the green flush of ground cover following flooding rains.

Compiled as a time series by the visualization team at QUT’s Institute of Future Environments (IFE), the imagery traces the lines of storms, fires, droughts and floods. Days turn into months as cyclical seasons re-shape the textured surface. As years slip into decades, there is a moment when these mesmerizing images touch upon the sublime.