Belfast, Northern Ireland
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, tenth largest city in the United Kingdom (by Primary Urban Area)and the second-largest on the island of Ireland, after Dublin. On the River Lagan, it had a population of 286,000 at the 2011 census and 333,871 after 2015 council reform Belfast was granted city status in 1888. Belfast was a centre of the Irish linen, tobacco processing, rope-making and shipbuilding industries: in the early 20th century, Harland and Wolff, which built the RMS Titanic, was the biggest and most productive shipyard in the world. Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was a global industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century. Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast the biggest city in Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a centre for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, and is the economic engine of Northern Ireland. The city suffered greatly during the period of conflict called "the Troubles", but latterly has undergone a sustained period of calm, free from the intense political violence of former years, and substantial economic and commercial growth. Additionally, Belfast city centre has undergone considerable expansion and regeneration in recent years, notably around Victoria Square. Belfast is served by two airports: George Best Belfast City Airport in the city, and Belfast International Airport 24 km west of the city. Belfast is a major port, with commercial and industrial docks dominating the Belfast Lough shoreline, including the Harland and Wolff shipyard, and is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city. More information is available on Wikipedia
Today our Landsat image comparison is focused over the major city of Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, located on the River Lagan at the head of Belfast Lough (an inlet of the North Channel of the Irish Sea). Northern Ireland is administered at local government level through borough, district, and city councils. Belfast has its own city council-Belfast City-and is represented at the Westminster parliament by 4 members of parliament out of Northern Ireland's total complement of 17. These images acquired with a temporal window of twenty-eight years (before/after), show the city and the area around it has grown, with changes visible especially in the port area. Another aim of these images is to promote the opportunity to download Landsat data through the ESA portals, where images captured every day are made available in near real time to the users and the scientific community. Landsat full resolution data products are freely available for immediate download at:  View Landsat 5 TM high resolution image (JPG 1.6 MB) View Landsat 8 OLI high resolution image (JPG 1.4 MB)
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