The changing face of Earth:

The Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan: These
Landsat satellite photographs are of the Aral Sea,
found between Uzbekistan (west) and Kazakhstan
(east). It used to be the fourth largest lake in the world
This inland lake is. Since the 1960s it has lost more than
half of its volume and these images show how its size
has decreased in the last 40 years. The first image, on
the top left was taken in 1973 and then from left to right
on the top row: 1987, 1999 and 2001. The bottom row
shows photos from 2004, 2007 and 2009. The shrinkage
is due to overuse of feeder rivers (the Syr Darya and Amu
Darya) for the irrigation of cotton and paddy fields

Dramatic high-resolution satellite images show how the world has been transformed over the last four decades

By Phil Vinter
PUBLISHED: 07:33 EST, 22 July 2012 | UPDATED: 03:24 EST, 23 July 2012

These amazing satellite images show how the march of progress has altered the face of the earth in just a few decades.

The images were all taken by a fleet of Earth-observing satellites that form part of the 'Landsat' program, which celebrates its 40th anniversary tomorrow.

Jointly managed by Nasa and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the initiative has been consistently gathering data about our planet since 23 July, 1972.

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