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Cairns - Queensland, Australia

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Location of Cairns, Queensland
© Geoscience Australia

The city of Cairns is located in far north Queensland, on the eastern coast of Cape York Penninsula. These images were acquired from the Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper sensor. True and false colour images for both a recent (2009), and an older (1989) scene are available below in high resolution JPEG format.

For acquisition of full resolution files see the Earth Observation Catalogue, or contact earth.observation@ga.gov.au

• Cairns true colour before and after
• 1989 Cairns true colour
• 2009 Cairns true colour
• 1989 Cairns false colour
• 2009 Cairns false colour

In this true colour swipe comparison, colours appear as close as they would naturally to the human eye. Urban areas appear grey to white, trees and grasslands as shades of green and yellow, and water bodies as dark blue to black. Cairns has seen marked residential expansion over the past 20 years mainly with the development of new suburbs onto land previously used for sugar farming. Mount Sheridan and Bentley Park are examples of this to the south of the CBD, similarly with Redlynch and Kamerunga near Barron Gorge. The northern beach suburbs have been significantly developed particularly around Kewarra and Clifton Beach. Cairns International Airport can also be seen undergoing a large renovation during this time.

	1989 Cairns true colour Landsat 5 TM satellite image Red, green, and blue hues are representing TM band’s 3 (visible red), 2 (visible green) and 1 (visible blue) respectively Image taken on 24 July 1989 25m Resolution Download high resolution image [JPEG 684KB] © Geoscience Australia
	2009 Cairns true colour Landsat 5 TM satellite image Red, green, and blue hues are representing TM band’s 3 (visible red), 2 (visible green) and 1 (visible blue) respectively Image taken on 16 July 2009 25m Resolution Download high resolution image [JPEG 736KB] © Geoscience Australia
	1989 Cairns false colour Landsat 5 TM satellite image Red, green, and blue hues are representing TM band’s 4 (near infrared), 5 (mid-infrared) and 1 (visible blue) respectively Image taken on 24 July 1989 25m Resolution In these false colour images, urban areas appear cyan to purple. Healthy forest vegetation is displayed as orange, agriculture and soils as shades of light green and yellow, and water bodies dark blue to black. Notice the mangrove swamps around Admiralty Island, which appeared a similar green to the surrounding forests in true colour, being highlighted bright red in this false colour image. Download high resolution image [JPEG 726KB] © Geoscience Australia
	2009 Cairns false colour Landsat 5 TM satellite image Red, green, and blue hues are representing TM band’s 4 (near infrared), 5 (mid-infrared) and 1 (visible blue) respectively Image taken on 16 July 2009 25m Resolution Download high resolution image [JPEG 766KB] © Geoscience Australia

Topic contact: earth.observation@ga.gov.au Last updated: October 27, 2011