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When most people think of satellite imagery, they picture a sharp, natural-looking photo—trees in green, water in blue, buildings in gray. That version, known as truecolor imagery, shows what your eyes would naturally see from above.
But satellites capture far more than what our eyes can see. They also record "multispectral data," wavelengths of light that are invisible to the naked eye. With Lens, you can access and order global, high-resolution multispectral data to enable precision monitoring wherever you work. In this blog, we’ll break down what multispectral data is and how to integrate it into your monitoring workflow.
In addition to truecolor imagery, satellites can also collect data across multiple wavelengths of light, providing a richer source of information known as “multispectral data.” Multispectral sensors record light in several discrete “bands”—for example, red, green, blue, and near-infrared (NIR). Each band reveals something different about the landscape:
These individual bands are the foundation for the environmental indices that monitoring teams rely on, such as:
With Lens, you can browse the Lens Library and order multispectral data, as well as a range of leading public and commercial remote sensing data. Explore datasets in Lens.
For tasks like tracking vegetation change, monitoring wetlands, or measuring ecological health, multispectral imagery makes otherwise subtle environmental patterns visible. That’s why analytic layers (NDVI or NDWI) are delivered in their native multispectral resolution. Keeping the pixels untouched ensures:
By capturing information across multiple wavelengths, these datasets reveal patterns in vegetation, water, and land conditions that could go unnoticed if we only relied on truecolor imagery. In Lens, you can access multispectral data at a variety of resolutions, including 30m, 10m, and 1m, to support monitoring at even the smallest scales—think parks, urban forests, and individual parcels. Read more about satellite imagery resolution and choosing the right imagery for your work.
Multispectral data is a practical tool that helps conservation teams, NGOs, government agencies, utilities, and land managers see subtle environmental changes long before they’re visible in truecolor imagery.
Declining canopy health often starts with subtle changes in chlorophyll. Multispectral bands, especially near-infrared, make these early warning signs stand out. This helps forestry teams detect thinning, pests, drought stress, or disease before major canopy loss occurs.
City parks face pressures from heat, drought, heavy foot traffic, and fragmented ecosystems. The stressors aren’t just causes for concern to a conservationist, issues like poor tree health can become serious safety risks. High resolution vegetation data help urban land managers track lawn and tree health, identify areas in need of irrigation, and justify budget or maintenance decisions with objective data.
Utilities need a clear view of vegetation growth to prevent outages and fire risk. Because NDVI data shows vegetation vigor, it can highlight fast-growing or stressed vegetation along power lines, helping operators prioritize field checks and maintenance more efficiently. Explore Lens for utilities.
NDWI data makes floodwater stand out clearly. Because this multispectral data is often captured more frequently than truecolor data, monitoring teams can access insights even when cloud cover or debris would complicate truecolor views. This enables faster situational awareness and supports post-event recovery planning. Explore more ways to assess flood extent and damage with Lens.
Healthy streams depend on intact vegetation along their banks. High-resolution NDVI and NDWI data helps conservation teams detect small tributaries, narrow tree lines, and subtle changes in vegetation density—critical for monitoring buffer compliance and identifying erosion risks. Lens makes it easy to monitor riparian vegetation using different types of geospatial data — check out the recent case study.
After restoration work—like stream re-meandering or bank stabilization—high resolution surface water data helps measure how the landscape responds. Teams can track vegetation rebound, moisture patterns, and changes in the newly shaped channel, ensuring the project delivers ecological benefits over time.
Multispectral data brings a deeper layer of understanding to your monitoring work, helping you see what’s changing, why it’s happening, and where to focus next. Ready to bring multispectral insights into your workflow? Contact our team to get started in Lens.