1.
Landsat program
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The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. On July 23,1972 the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched and this was eventually renamed to Landsat. The most recent, Landsat 8, was launched on February 11,2013, the instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images. Landsat 7 data has eight spectral bands with spatial resolutions ranging from 15 to 60 meters, Landsat images are usually divided into scenes for easy downloading. Each Landsat scene is about 115 miles long and 115 miles wide, Hughes Santa Barbara Research Center initiated, designed, and fabricated the first three Multispectral Scanners in 1969, the same year man landed on the moon. The first prototype MSS was completed nine months, in the fall of 1970. It was tested by scanning Half Dome at Yosemite National Park, the program was initially called the Earth Resources Technology Satellites Program, which was used from 1966 to 1975. In 1975, the name was changed to Landsat and this occurred in 1985 when the Earth Observation Satellite Company, a partnership of Hughes Aircraft and RCA, was selected by NOAA to operate the Landsat system with a ten-year contract. EOSAT operated Landsat 4 and Landsat 5, had rights to market Landsat data. In 1989, this transition had not been completed when NOAAs funding for the Landsat program was due to run out. The head of the newly formed National Space Council, Vice President Dan Quayle, noted the situation and arranged emergency funding that allowed the program to continue with the data archives intact. Again in 1990 and 1991, Congress provided only half of the funding to NOAA. In 1992, various efforts were made to procure funding for follow on Landsats and continued operations, Landsat 6 was finally launched on October 5,1993, but was lost in a launch failure. Processing of Landsat 4 and 5 data was resumed by EOSAT in 1994, NASA finally launched Landsat 7 on April 15,1999. Timeline Landsat missions 1 through 5 carried the Landsat Multispectral Scanner and this construct ensured the secondary mirror would simply oscillate about the primary optic axis to maintain focus despite vibration inherent from the 360 mm beryllium scan mirror. This engineering solution allowed the United States to develop LANDSAT at least five years ahead of the French SPOT and this was a direct result of the commercialization efforts begun under the Carter administration, though finally completed under the Reagan administration. This main plate was assembled on a frame, then attached to the magnesium housing with helicoil fasteners. Key to the success of the multi spectral scanner was the scan monitor mounted on the underbelly of the magnesium housing, the beam struck the beryllium scan mirror seven times as it reflected seven times off the flat mirrors
2.
Tonga
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Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 750 square kilometres scattered over 700,000 square kilometres of the southern Pacific Ocean and it has a population of 103,000 people of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu. Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres in a north-south line and it is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east, Kermadec to the southwest, and New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the farther west. Tonga became known in the West as the Friendly Islands because of the reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the festival, the yearly donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga. According to the writer William Mariner, the wanted to kill Cook during the gathering. From 1900 to 1970, Tonga had British protected state status, the country never relinquished its sovereignty to any foreign power. In many Polynesian languages including Tongan, the word tonga means south, the name of Tonga is cognate to the Hawaiian region of Kona. In Malay, the name of Tonga is also cognate to the word Tenggara, an Austronesian-speaking group linked to the archaeological construct known as the Lapita cultural complex reached and inhabited Tonga around 1500–1000 BCE. Scholars have much debated the exact dates of the settlement of Tonga. Not much is known before European contact because of the lack of a writing system, in the 15th century and again in the 17th, civil war erupted. The Tongan people first encountered Europeans in 1616 when the Dutch vessel Eendracht, captained by Willem Schouten, later came other Dutch explorers, including Jacob Le Maire, and in 1643 Abel Tasman. In 1845, the young warrior, strategist, and orator Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into a kingdom. He held the title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but had been baptised by Methodist missionaries with the name Siaosi in 1831. Tonga became a state under a Treaty of Friendship with Britain on 18 May 1900. The treaty posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British Consul, under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government. The Tongan monarchy follows a succession of hereditary rulers from one family. The 1918 flu pandemic, brought to Tonga by a ship from New Zealand, killed 1,800 Tongans, the Treaty of Friendship and Tongas protection status ended in 1970 under arrangements established by Queen Salote Tupou III prior to her death in 1965
3.
Tongatapu
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Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukuʻalofa. Its maximum height is 65 metres, Tongatapu is Tongas centre of government and the seat of its monarchy. Tongatapu, as a commercial and transport hub, has experienced rapid economic development than, as well as attracting many internal migrants from. The island is 257.03 square kilometres and rather flat, the island is covered with thick fertile soil consisting of volcanic ash from neighboring volcanoes. At the steep coast of the south, heights reach an average of 35 metres gradually decreasing towards the north, Tongatapu is highest in elevation around the villages of Fuaamotu and Nakolo with a height of 65 metres. North of the island are small isolated islands and coral reefs which extend up to 7 kilometres from Tongatapus shores. The almost completely closed Fangauta and Fangakakau Lagoons are important breeding grounds for birds, the lagoons were declared a Natural Reserve in 1974 by the government. The island has only but a few sandy beaches because of its raised coastlines apart from the small islands in the north boasting some of the best beaches in Tongatapu. Tongatapu has a cooler climate than the rest of Tonga as it is the southernmost group of islands in the country. Because of this, fruit production is lower in Tongatapu than it is in the islands in the north. Tongatapu is known as having one of the highest concentration of remains in the Pacific. The earliest traces of Lapita pottery found in Tonga was from around 900–850 BCE,300 years after the first settlements in Tonga were established. Archaeologist David Burley discovered the pottery around the Fangauta Lagoon,2,000 kilometres away from the Lapita pottery found at Santa Cruz in the Solomon Islands. Although Tonga was always the seat of the Tongan Empire, but in an area of distances up to 1,000 kilometres, it was often only a symbolic rule. Tongatapu was discovered by Europeans on 20 January 1643 by Abel Janszoon Tasman commanding two ships, the Heemskerck and the Zeehaen commissioned by the Dutch East India Company of Batavia. The expeditions goals were to chart the southern and eastern seas and to find a possible passage through the South Pacific. The expedition set sail from Batavia on 14 August 1642, Tasman named the island t’ Eijlandt Amsterdam, because of its abundance of supplies. This name is no longer used except by historians, resolution, under British sea captain James Cook, stopped here in 1777 and left some cattle for breeding
4.
Lau Islands
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The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited, the Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles, and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high islands of volcanic origin, administratively the islands belong to Lau Province. The British explorer James Cook reached Vatoa in 1774, by the time of the discovery of the Ono Group in 1820, the Lau archipelago was the most mapped area of Fiji. Political unity came late to the Lau Islands, historically, they comprised three territories, the Northern Lau Islands, the Southern Lau Islands, and the Moala Islands. Around 1855, the renegade Tongan prince Enele Maafu conquered the region, calling himself the Tui Lau, or King of Lau, he promulgated a constitution and encouraged the establishment of Christian missions. The first missionaries had arrived at Lakeba in 1830, but had been expelled, the Tui Nayau, who had been the nominal overlord of the Lau Islands, became subject to Maafu. The title Tui Lau was left vacant from his uncle, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, in 1958 as referenced in Mara, the Northern Lau Islands, which extended as far south as Tuvuca, were under the overlordship of Taveuni and paid tribute to the Tui Cakau. In 1855, however, Maafu gained sovereignty over Northern Lau, establishing Lomaloma, on Vanua Balavu, the Southern Lau Islands extended from Ono-i-Lau, in the far south, to as far north as Cicia. They were the chiefdom of the Tui Nayau, but with Maafus conquest in the 1850s. The Moala Islands had closer affiliation with Bau Island and Lomaiviti than with Lau and they have remained administratively a part of the Lau Province ever since. Since they lie between Melanesian Fiji and Polynesian Tonga, the Lau Islands are a point of the two cultural spheres. Lauan villages remain very traditional, and the inhabitants are renowned for their wood carving. Lakeba especially was a meeting place between Tongans and Fijians. The south-east trade winds allowed sailors to travel from Tonga to Fiji, the Lau Island culture became more Fijian rather than Polynesian beginning around 500 BC. However, Tongan influence can still be found in names, language, food, unlike the square-shaped ends characterizing most houses elsewhere in Fiji, Lauan houses tend to be rounded, following the Tongan practice. In early July 2014, Tongas Lands Minister, Lord Maʻafu Tukuiʻaulahi, at the time that news of the proposal first broke, it had not yet been discussed with the Lau Provincial Council. Many Lauans have Tongan ancestors and some Tongans have Lauan ancestors, Tongas Lands Minister is named after Enele Maafu, historically, the Minerva Reefs have been part of the fishing grounds belonging to the people of Ono-i-Lau, an island in the Lau Group
5.
Fiji
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Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealands North Island. Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 860,000. The capital, Suva on Viti Levu, serves as Fijis principal cruise port, about three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levus coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like Nadi or Lautoka. Viti Levus interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain, Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific due to an abundance of forest, mineral, and fish resources. Today, the sources of foreign exchange are its tourist industry. The countrys currency is the Fijian dollar, Fijis local government, in the form of city and town councils, is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development. The majority of Fijis islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago, today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC, and was settled first by Austronesians and later by Melanesians, Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century, and, after a brief period as an independent kingdom, the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as a Commonwealth realm, a republic was declared in 1987, following a series of coups détat. In a coup in 2006, Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power, later in 2009, Iloilo was replaced as President by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. After years of delays, an election was held on 17 September 2014. Bainimaramas FijiFirst party won with 59. 2% of the vote, Fijis main island is known as Viti Levu and it is from this that the name Fiji is derived, though the common English pronunciation is based on that of their island neighbours in Tonga. Its emergence can be described as follows, Fijians first impressed themselves on European consciousness through the writings of the members of the expeditions of Cook who met them in Tonga. They were described as warriors and ferocious cannibals, builders of the finest vessels in the Pacific. They inspired awe amongst the Tongans, and all their Manufactures, especially bark cloth and clubs, were highly valued and much in demand. They called their home Viti, but the Tongans called it Fisi, and it was by this foreign pronunciation, Fiji, first promulgated by Captain James Cook, that these islands are now known. Feejee, the Anglicised spelling of the Tongan pronunciation, was used in accounts and other writings until the late 19th century, by missionaries and other travellers visiting Fiji. Pottery art from Fijian towns shows that Fiji was settled before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, the first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago
6.
Maui
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The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at 727.2 square miles and is the 17th-largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the State of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui Countys four islands, bigger than Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, in 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444, third-highest of the Hawaiian Islands, behind that of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. Kahului is the largest census-designated place on the island with a population of 26,337 as of 2010 and is the commercial and financial hub of the island, Wailuku is the seat of Maui County and is the third-largest CDP as of 2010. Other significant places include Kīhei, Lahaina, Makawao, Pukalani, Pāʻia, Kula, Haʻikū, native Hawaiian tradition gives the origin of the islands name in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. According to that legend, Hawaiʻiloa named the island of Maui after his son, the earlier name of Maui was ʻIhikapalaumaewa. The Island of Maui is also called the Valley Isle for the isthmus between its northwestern and southeastern volcanoes and the numerous large valleys carved into both mountains. Mauis diverse landscapes are the result of a combination of geology, topography. Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a volcanic doublet, formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them, the older, western volcano has been eroded considerably and is cut by numerous drainages, forming the peaks of the West Maui Mountains. Puʻu Kukui is the highest of the peaks at 5,788 feet. The larger, younger volcano to the east, Haleakalā, rises to more than 10,000 feet above sea level, the eastern flanks of both volcanoes are cut by deeply incised valleys and steep-sided ravines that run downslope to the rocky, windswept shoreline. The valley-like Isthmus of Maui that separates the two volcanic masses was formed by sandy erosional deposits, although considered to be dormant by volcanologists, Haleakalā is certainly capable of further eruptions. Maui is part of a larger unit, Maui Nui, that includes the islands of Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi. During periods of reduced sea level, including as recently as 20,000 years ago and this, and the extreme insularity of the Hawaiian Islands account for the strong marine influence on Mauis climate. Gross weather patterns are determined by elevation and orientation towards the Trade winds. Mauis rugged, irregular topography produces marked variations in conditions, air swept inland on the Trade winds is shunted one way or another by the mountains, valleys, and vast open slopes. This complex three-dimensional flow of air results in striking variations in speed, cloud formation. Maui displays a unique and diverse set of conditions, each of which is specific to a loosely defined sub-region of the island
