New NASA satellite images of the Philippines shed more light on Typhoon Haiyan's widespread impact on Tacloban, the capital of the country's Leyte Province.
The two photos were taken from 438 miles above Earth by NASA's ASTER satellite. The first is from Nov. 15 of this year, just days after the storm swept through Tacloban, and the second is from April 3, 2004. Both pictures are false colored to show how much of the land is covered with vegetation, urban sprawl or bare ground.
Plant-covered land is red, urbanized territory is silver-white, tan signifies bare earth and water is colored black and blue. The two images are of the same location, yet appear dramatically different.


Though NASA acknowledges that many variables could have affected these changes over the past nine years, they believe they can trace most of the differences to Typhoon Haiyan.
See also: 'It's Really a Miracle': How a Typhoon Haiyan Survivor Found His Way Home
The starkest discrepancy between the photos comes from the red-colored vegetation that appears a bit inland. Much of the 2004 image is the color of a tomato, but the most recent image is mostly tan. NASA points out that the area surrounding Tacloban is tropical, so vegetation there is not subject to seasonal change.
That means the color change was probably caused by the typhoon's near-200 mile-per-hour winds stripping the land of its grass, shrubs and trees.
The once urban coastal area also appears reordered. A quick glance at the images shows an increase in silver over the past nine years, which could indicate that the city has grown. But NASA scientists believe that might be an illusion caused by a mass of debris that was spread throughout the city during the storm.
That theory is supported, they say, because the street grid that was so visible in 2004 is now blurred, also likely due to debris. Closer to shore, what was once a menagerie of silver and red is now splotched with tan, likely from mud the typhoon left after the storm surge receded.
"This pair of images demonstrates both the challenge and the value in mapping disasters with satellite data," the NASA report says, referring to how difficult it can be to extract precise information from photos taken so high up. "The images give a view of the entire city and its surroundings, a view that would otherwise be very difficult to obtain."
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Image: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, NASA