What are the most blue states of the United States? This video identifies and explores the bluest states of the United States. NOTE: Referring to the actual color blue - not political!

Keywords: Geography Viz, United States, Blueness, Remote Sensing, Landsat 8, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Verginia, Surface Water

Methodology:
-Used Google Earth Engine to create an image collection
-Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data (LANDSAT/LC08/C02/T1_TOA)
-Five year date filter (get enough data for month and cloud filtering)
-June to August filter (avoid snow/ice cover, leaf-on period)
-Applied cloud mask
-Created median image RGB composite from the image collection
-Calculated 'blueness' index = Blue / (0.5 Red + 0.5 Green)
-Reduced mean blueness for State polygons (scale = 3000 m)
-Polygons included District of Columbia, so ranks ranged 1 to 51

Photo Credit:
Gfp-florida-everglades-national-park-clear-pond-with-lillies.jpg; 8 January 2013; www.goodfreephotos.com (gallery, image); Yinan Chen

Sources:
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/environ... [accessed 6/1/2022]

The Clean Water Act at 50: Promises Half Kept at the Half-Century Mark by Keene Kelderman, Ari Phillips, Tom Pelton, Eric Schaeffer, Paul MacGillis-Falcon, and Courtney Bernhardt of the Environmental Integrity Project with maps by Louisa Markow of EIP and cover and infographic by Elizabeth Gething (2022)

Han, L. (1997). Spectral reflectance with varying suspended sediment concentrations in clear and algae-laden waters. Photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing, 63(6), 701-705.