The upper high resolution images showing bomb damage of Baghdad which appeared on a USA Today web page on March 29, 2003. The images were provided by Digital Globe and were acquired using the DG Quickbird satellite.

Targeting is apparently precise when things go according to plan, as the munitions have holed the roofs squarely, leaving adjacent structures untouched. Although no acquisition dates were given, it is obvious that QuickBird did not just happen to be in the neighborhood when they were taken. Digital Globe probably has a DOD contract to acquire such perfectly matched images to assist the US military in bomb damage assessment. These images are made available for political reasons and also to showcase Quickbird capabilities.

The next image is a not full-resolution overview of Baghdad taken from the Digital Globe website.

Following that is a Landsat TM (30m) not quite true color composite of Baghdad and the areas south of Iraq. Landsat image courtesy of GLCF. These may be the scenes of major battles in coming weeks. The thumbnail is linked to the full-size color composite that is 11.95 MB large. I have not yet found a Landsat ETM 15m image but if I do I will post it.

The next image is a fairly useless (due to excessive cloud cover) EarthKam image of the Baghdad area (32.1N, 45.6E). More useful is the corresponding Jet Navigation map of the same area. Key battle areas including the Saddam International airport can be located on the map in order to reference the satellite images of the Baghdad area. This map is also a useful reference for locating sites the Landsat image, including the Saddam Airport.

As US forces enter Baghdad itself, high quality maps of the city become more useful. Here is the best I have found to date courtesy of the University of Texas Perry Castaneda site. This striking NIMA map shows very graphically that US forces, having occupied the airport, are truly at the gates of the city.

I will post more images as they become available.

Satellite images:www.digitalglobe.com

Satellite image:www.spaceimaging.com

Satellite image: www.terrainmap.com (11.95MB)

Map: University of Texas/NIMA (1.5MB)