NASA has already spotted Northern Canada's seasonal colour change from space
While it may be a bit early to see the full palette of fall colours in southern regions of Canada, in the north, the change of the season has already taken hold.
Fall colours come early in the tundra and subarctic ecosystems of Nunavut, says NASA, as their satellite imagery gives us a glimpse of the seasonal colour change that's already happened in far northern Canada.
Roughly 700 kilometres above Earth's surface, a compact-car-sized satellite known as Landsat 9 circles the planet once every 99 minutes. Cameras on board the satellite constantly snap pictures of the landscape below it, capturing 180 km-wide swaths of the surface from pole to pole to pole on each orbit.
Landsat-9's polar orbit is shown here as of day 6 of its orbital cycle, with each pass the satellite makes filling in imagery captured by its cameras. Inset, top right: an artist's conception drawing of Landsat 9 satellite with its solar panel deployed. (NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio)
That imagery is then provided to scientists and the public so that we can track the changes going on in the environment of our home world.
An early glimpse of Fall
On July 27, 2026, Landsat 9 passed over the Coppermine River, in northwestern Nunavut, south of the community of Kugluktuk.
At that time, it recorded abundant green plantlife, especially along the shores of the river.
Landsat 9's image of northwestern Nunavut, on July 27, 2026, showing the Coppermine River as it winds through the terrain from south (bottom centre) to north (top centre). (NASA/Michala Garrison)
When the satellite flew over the same area just six weeks later, on September 6, the scene had completely changed its colour palette from summer to autumn:
Landsat 9's image of the exact same region of NW Nunavut, from September 6, 2026, reveals the sudden fall colour change across the region. (NASA/Michala Garrison)
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According to NASA Earth Observatory: "The region is known for willow and birch shrubs, blueberries, bearberries, and other low-growing tundra plants that turn shades of red, orange, and yellow each fall. A NASA and South Dakota State University analysis of seven years of satellite data found that foliage in the region begins to change in early September and peaks in mid-month, making this one of the first places on the North American continent to change color."
"But blink and you might miss it," NASA EO science writer Adam Voiland added, "the analysis also showed that far northerly regions tend to have shorter periods of peak color — sometimes a week or less — compared to many lower-latitude areas."