October 28, 2022 - Mississippi River Delta
Delta
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On October 26, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
the Mississippi River and Delta in Louisiana on a sunny autumn day. The
curving course of the mighty river can be seen twisting through fall
fields that are tinted gold and tan. Major cities, such as New Orleans,
appear to be colored gray. Sediment swirls in Lake Ponchartrain just
north of New Orleans and pours into the Gulf of Mexico through channels
in the Mississippi Delta.
Water levels in the Lower Mississippi River cycle through the year,
with the highest levels (often accompanied by flooding) occurring in
springtime as spring rains along the entire basin and snowmelt in the
north combine to fill the river. After summer’s heat dries the
Mississippi Basin, water levels in the Lower Mississippi River
typically drop by fall. This year, driven by an extremely warm summer
upstream and Moderate to Severe Drought (D1-D2) registered through most
of the state of Louisiana, water levels have dropped to levels not seen
since 2012, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
On October 18, the NWS Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC)
reported that preliminary data showed some locations along the river
from Cairo, Illinois to Memphis, Tennessee had broken modern-day
low-level records. Memphis registered -10.7 feet, with a forecast for
the river to reach a low of -11.1 feet.
Low water levels in the Lower Mississippi River have allowed salty
water from the Gulf of Mexico to push up the Delta and upriver into the
Mississippi River, threatening water supplies. To prevent saltwater
from getting farther upstream, the Corps began construction on an
underwater sill in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana, on October 11.
Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/26/2022
Resolutions: 1km (29.3 KB), 500m (101.7 KB), 250m (312.1
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-10-28
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