Thirty Years of Satellite Eyes Reveal an Indian City Swallowing Its

Satellite imagery spanning 1995 to 2025 is showing how Ara, the administrative headquarters of Bhojpur district in Bihar, India, has been losing wetlands and tree cover as built-up areas expand. A study published in Discover Geoscience used Landsat 5, Landsat 8, and Landsat 9 data and analyzed eight spectral indices to track vegetation, water, and development. Researchers Latifur Rahaman and Sadaf used scenes with under 10% cloud cover and compared pre-monsoon April–May conditions with post-monsoon October–November peaks. Mapping was backed by statistical analysis of more than 20,000 ~30m pixels per image, using correlation at the 95% confidence level.