Neom, Tabuk

Desert being cut and graded for a linear city.

92.1 hectares changed — new vegetation · Before: 1 Feb 2019 – 30 Apr 2019 · After: 1 Feb 2024 – 30 Apr 2024 · 28.020, 35.230

BEFORE 2019-04

AFTER 2024-04

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92.1 haarea changed

20areas flagged

10,020 haarea examined

2satellites used

What changed, by type

81.1 haNew vegetation

5.4 haWater disappeared

3.1 haNew construction / earthworks

2.4 haVegetation cleared

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 vegetation — 69.5 ha
4.8 km south-west · between 28 Apr 2019 and 20 Mar 2024 · 95% sure

Water disappeared — 5.4 ha
1.5 km south · between 28 Apr 2019 and 20 Mar 2024 · 87% sure

New vegetation — 3.1 ha
3.2 km south-west · between 28 Apr 2019 and 20 Mar 2024 · 93% sure

New vegetation — 1.8 ha
2.2 km south-west · between 28 Apr 2019 and 20 Mar 2024 · 90% sure

New vegetation — 1.1 ha
5.1 km west · between 28 Apr 2019 and 20 Mar 2024 · 92% sure

How sure is this?

The strongest area (#1) has 95% confidence. It appears in 6 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar confirmed some of these areas; the others rest on optical and seasonal evidence. Compared with the same season in earlier years, this is clearly unusual. 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 , and the same season in earlier years so normal seasonal change is not reported as real change. The analysis took 22 seconds.

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