• MODIS Pic of the Day 14 March 2023

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Tue Mar 14 12:00:30 2023
    March 14, 2023 - Freddy fills up Lake Ihotry

    Freddy fills up Lake Inhotry
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    Tropical Cyclone Freddy, one of the longest-tracked tropical systems of
    all times, took an unusual path across the Indian Ocean, twice dousing
    Madagascar with extremely heavy rains and strong winds. Freddy struck
    the central eastern shore on February 21 and exited the island on
    February 22 just south of Lake Ihotry and north of the town of Toliara.
    Freddy struck Mozambique on February 24, then rebounded to pound
    southwestern Madagascar with intense rain of March 6 as the center spun
    just offshore near Toliara.

    According to the BNGRC (Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des
    Catastrophes), Freddy's return to the west coast caused 8 at least
    deaths and affected 40,375 people in 8,896 households across three
    regions. A total of 14,502 people have been displaced.

    Freddy brought more than 10 inches of rain along its first pass across
    Madagascar, with nearly that amount added to the southwestern coast as
    it made an unwelcomed return. With soils already saturated by
    torrential rains from Tropical Cyclone Chenesco, which stalled off the
    west coast in January, Freddy’s rainfall created widespread flooding.

    The storm waters also filled Lake Ihotry, a closed saline lake in a
    semi-arid region in the southwestern section of the country. On March
    13, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
    board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of flooded
    Lake Ihotry (top image). The bottom false-color image acquired on
    January 17 by the MODIS on Terra shows the same lake prior to the
    passage of both Chenesco and Freddy.

    This type of false color image uses infrared and visible light (MODIS
    bands 7,2,1), which makes both deep water (deep blue) and shallow water
    (light blue) easy to differentiate from vegetation (bright green) or
    open land (tan). In the January 17 image, Lake Ihotry contains only a
    small amount of deep water, with shallow water covering the eastern
    portion. The southeastern coastline appears tan, suggesting very dry
    conditions. While vegetation is abundant in most of the image, several
    beige areas contain no vegetation at all. These are mineral-crusted
    salt pans in a very arid region.

    Conditions are noticeably different in the March 13 image. Lake Ihotry
    is swollen more than full, covering all the dry edges visible in the
    earlier image. In addition, in many areas, the salt pans have a blue
    tint indicating they, too, have been drenched and flooded by the
    passing storms.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Terra
    Date Acquired: 3/13/2023
    Resolutions: 1km (76 KB), 500m (170.6 KB), 250m (94 KB)
    Bands Used: 7.2.1
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-03-14

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