• MODIS Pic of the Day 01 November 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Tue Nov 1 12:00:34 2022
    November 1, 2022 - Inland Niger Delta at the End of the Rainy Season

    Mali
    Tweet
    Share

    On October 31, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
    (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
    central Mali, showing the Inland Niger Delta wetlands flush with
    vegetation after a long and wet rainy season. Each year, this
    emerald-colored jewel fills with floodwaters from the Niger River, the
    Bani River, and a network of smaller streams during the wet season
    (July through October), growing to about 7,700 square miles (20,000
    square kilometers). As rains cease and the dry season progresses,
    rising temperatures speed evaporation to shrink this inland delta to
    about 1,500 square miles (3,900 square miles).

    In typical years, the inundated delta attracts a wide array of animals
    and birds to the freshened wetlands, while the waters help fertilize
    soils and aid farming efforts in the region. Unfortunately, 2022 was
    not a typical year in the Central Sahel. According to the United
    Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the countries of the
    Central Sahel (Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso), above-average rains and
    floodings brought disaster to residents, and “have killed hundreds,
    displaced thousands, and decimated over one million hectares of
    cropland.” They estimate that more than 41,000 people have been
    affected by the excess flooding throughout Mali. In 2021, damaging
    flooding affected 10,511 people in the same region.

    The true-color image, above, effectively shows a snapshot of Mali on a
    single overpass on a single day. Sometimes, especially with cyclical
    changes that affect a region, much more information can be gleaned from
    looking at changes over time. The NASA Worldview app makes comparisons
    quick and easy.

    To view a roll-over comparison of two Aqua MODIS images of this same
    region simply click here . The first image is our Image of the Day
    collected on October 31, 2022, at the end of the wet season. The other
    was acquired on June 2, 2022, at the end of the dry season and before
    rains began. The difference is dramatic.

    The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet
    as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite
    images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and
    Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data
    accessible and freely available to the public.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Aqua
    Date Acquired: 10/31/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (177.5 KB), 500m (494.7 KB), 250m (318.8
    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=2022-11-01

    --- up 35 weeks, 1 day, 20 minutes
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)