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Atlas › Turkey › Construction

Istanbul Airport

One of the world's largest airports built on forest and lake beds.

1,978.5 hectares changed — new water / flooding · Before: 1 May 2017 – 31 Aug 2017 · After: 1 May 2021 – 31 Aug 2021 · 41.275, 28.752

BeforeAfter
BEFORE 2017-08
AFTER 2021-08

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1,978.5 haarea changed
258areas flagged
10,020 haarea examined
2satellites used

What changed, by type

1,322.1 haNew water / flooding
342.6 haNew construction / earthworks
235.7 haunclassified
53.3 haVegetation cleared
24.9 haWater disappeared

Land changes in both directions at once. SCOPE reports every type it measured, not only the one that makes the better headline.

What SCOPE found

New construction / earthworks — 83.7 ha
3.6 km south-west · 76% sure
Water disappeared — 21.8 ha
5.8 km south-east · 78% sure
New construction / earthworks — 8.9 ha
2.5 km south-east · 78% sure
New construction / earthworks — 8.5 ha
5.8 km south-east · 78% sure
New construction / earthworks — 8.5 ha
1.8 km north-east · 78% sure

How sure is this?

The strongest area (#1) has 76% confidence. It appears in 4 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar could not confirm or rule them out (normal for vegetation changes), so the result rests on repeated clear optical views and the seasonal comparison. Only 0% of the area had clear optical views, so some change may be hidden by cloud. Note: Optical imagery was unusable (cloud); results rely on Sentinel-1 radar only. Confidence measures how strong the evidence for real surface change is; it does not identify the cause or who did it.

How it was measured

SCOPE used Sentinel-2 optical imagery at 10 m, cloud-masked and combined over each period, Sentinel-1 radar as an independent check . The analysis took 16 seconds.

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