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Drought in Africa
| Title |
Drought in Africa |
| Description |
February is a key month for developing crops in southern Africa. Corn, the major crop, is in its critical tassel/silking stage where the plants require more water to successfully develop ears of corn. A lack of moisture at this point results in fewer, smaller ears, greatly reducing the yield of the crop. Just as the plants reached this critical stage, a dry spell settled over southern Africa. The reduced harvest may lead to food insecurity in parts of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland, reports a recent brief released by the Famine Early Warming Systems Network [ http://www.fews.net/centers/innerSections.aspx?f=r3&m=1001535&pageID=monthliesDoc ]. The drought has not been limited to southern Africa. Further up the coast, many countries are dealing with a multi-year drought that has caused food shortages from Tanzania in the south to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the north. Both drought-affected regions are draped in shades of red in the above image. The image shows outgoing longwave radiation, the heat emitted from the Earth?s surface. Because clouds are much cooler than land, outgoing longwave radiation can tell scientists where clouds are or, more importantly for drought monitoring, where clouds are not. Without clouds, there is no rain. The above image shows a comparison between February 2005 and a long-term average of outgoing longwave radiation measurements made between 1979 and 1995. Regions that were cooler than normal, probably because of cloud cover are blue, while areas that were normal than normal because of a lack of clouds are red. The image, derived from measurements made by the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) onboard the NOAA-POES satellite series, clearly shows a lack of cloud-cover in the drought-affected regions. OLR anomaly image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data analyzed by Assaf Anyamba and provided by NOAA National Center for Environmental Prediction [ http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/ ]. |
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Fire and Smoke in Angola
| Title |
Fire and Smoke in Angola |
| Description |
In August and September, accumulated smoke and smog from seasonal agricultural burning and charcoal production in southern Africa gets "recycled"across many southern Africa countries, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. At that time of year, a semi-permanent area of high atmospheric pressure takes up residence over that part of the continent, and the air re-circulates in a counterclockwise spin around the high. Air does escape from this spin-cycle at times and spreads out over the Indian Ocean to the east, or the Atlantic Ocean to the west, as it does in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image captured by NASA's Terra satellite on August 28, 2004. At right are of parts of (top to bottom) Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. Haze spreads out over the Atlantic, giving the clouds a dirty appearance. Contrast their color with the brightness of the cloud over Angola, at the bottom of the image to the right of center. MODIS also detected numerous fires, which have been marked in red. NASA scientists studied this atmospheric phenomenon in 2000 in a field campaign called SAFARI. To learn more, read "Red Alert! 'Recycled Ozone' Adds to Health Hazards in Zambia" [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/2001/200112106304.html ] in the Earth Observatory's NASA News Archive. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Tropical Cyclone Favio
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Favio |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Favio formed in the western Indian Ocean about 1,200 kilometers from Madagascar on February 14, 2007. It gradually moved southwest, passing well offshore of Reunion and Mauritius Islands. By February 20, it was just off the southern shore of Madagascar as a well-formed, mature storm. While the storm system had largely skirted around populated areas to that point, forecasters were concerned about its behavior as it entered the warmer waters of the Mozambique Channel. The storm was forecast to reach Category Four [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] strength before coming ashore and tracking inland through Zimbabwe and Zambia, bringing heavy rains to already flooded areas. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14115 ] This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on February 20, 2007, at 2:15 p.m. local time (11:15 UTC). The storm was turning north around the southern end of Madagscar, headed for the Mozambique Channel. Favio had the recognizable shape of a southern-hemisphere tropical cyclone, with spiral arms showing its clockwise rotation. The spiral arms are well-defined and tightly wound. A distinct eye at the center of the storm is only partially filled with clouds (a "partially closed" eye). These are all signs of a well-developed and powerful storm, consistent with the cyclone's strength. According to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http:/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3 www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/ ] Favio had steady winds of around 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) around the time MODIS made this observation. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS' full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. You can also download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Favio KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Feb2007/Favio.A2007051.1115.250m.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
|
Tropical Cyclone Favio
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Favio |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Favio came ashore on the coast of Mozambique on the morning of February 22, 2007. At the time it crossed the shoreline, Favio had lost some strength from its peak the previous day, but still had extremely powerful winds. The cyclone continued to weaken as it passed over land, becoming a tropical depression. As of 8:00 a.m. local time (0600 UTC), winds were down to 60 kilometers per hour (38 miles per hour), according to the South African Weather Service. [ http://www.weathersa.co.za/ ] This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on February 23, 2007, at 1:45 p.m. local time (11:45 UTC), as the tropical depression was crossing into Zimbabwe. The storm still has a distinct balled-up form left over from its cyclone state the previous day, but once over land, the strong circular eye and powerful eyewall storms typical of a cylone were gone. As it traveled farther inland towards the Zambezi River valley, the storm brought heavy rains to Zimbabwe. This region had already suffered from heavy rains associated with the onset of the monsoon, and severe flooding along the Zambezi River [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14115 ] in mid-February killed dozens of people and forced more than a hundred thousand people to evacuate, according to reports [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-6YMDSC?OpenDocument ] from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies posted online by ReliefWeb. [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm ] There had been widespread additional evacuations ahead of Cyclone Favio's arrival. You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Favio KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Feb2007/favio_amo_2007054.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Victoria Falls, Zambezi Rive
…
| Title |
Victoria Falls, Zambezi River |
| Description |
high resolution 1000 pixel-wide image (920 kB JPEG) Victoria Falls is one of the most famous tourist sites in subsaharan Africa. Details of the Falls are visible in this image taken with the 800 mm lens by Astronaut Edward Lu from the Space Station on September 4, 2003. A major river in south-central Africa, the Zambezi River flows from western Zambia to the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. In the sector imaged here, it flows southeast (top left to bottom right) in a wide bed before plunging suddenly 130 meters over the Victoria Falls into a narrow gorge. The falls and their famous spray clouds are 1700 m long, the longest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls appear as a ragged white line. The small town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe appears just west (left) of the falls, with smaller tourist facilities on the east bank in Zambia. The international railroad bridge over the second gorge (between Zimbabwe and Zambia) can be seen in the detailed view on the bottom (arrow). The positions of the falls are controlled by linear fault lines in the underlying basalt rocks. The falls have moved upstream (bottom to top) by intense river erosion, elongating the zig-zag gorge in the process. Prior positions of the strongly linear falls can be detected. The earliest on this cropped view may have been the longest (dashed line). The zig-zags represent subsequent positions, all with the characteristic water-worn lip on the upstream side. The falls will continue to erode northward. Astronaut photograph ISS007-E-14361 was taken September 4, 2003 with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera equipped with an 800mm lens and provided by M. Justin Wilkinson (Lockheed Martin / Earth Observations Laboratory, Johnson Space Center). The International Space Station Program [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ ] supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Zimbabwe Sunset
| Title |
Zimbabwe Sunset |
| Explanation |
Today's scheduled [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/ EarthSeasons.html ] geocentric astronomical event is the Solstice [ http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2001/ news-summer.asp ], with the Sun reaching its northernmost declination [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/ coordinates.html ] at 13 hours 24 minutes Universal Time [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/UT.html ]. For denizens of planet Earth this Solstice [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000621.html ] marks the beginning of Summer in the northern [ http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Classroom/ Lessons/Sundials/sundials.html ] hemisphere and Winter in the south [ http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Classroom/Lessons/ Sundials/sundials_S.html ]. Of course, the tilt [ http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/seasons.htm ] of the Earth's axis of rotation (and not [ http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/seasons.html ] a change in the Earth-Sun distance) is mainly responsible for the changing seasons and the Sun's yearly north-south motion through the sky. Following the rising [ http://pages.prodigy.net/pam.orman/joesun/ Sun_05.html ] and setting points of the Sun along the horizon is one way to track [ http://analyzer.depaul.edu/paperplate/ Sunrise%20Sunset.htm ] the Sun's progress along its seasonal cycle [ http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/23sep99/ story5.html ]. Tall grasses and tinted clouds frame this dramatic view of the setting Sun approaching the northern limit of this year's seasonal journey as seen near Raffingora, Zimbabwe [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ zi.html ]. |
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Zimbabwe Solar Eclipse
| Title |
Zimbabwe Solar Eclipse |
| Explanation |
Normally hiding from view in the glare of the Sun, the shy solar corona [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010907.html ] came out to play Wednesday as a total solar eclipse graced morning skies over [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021203.html ] southern Africa. This telescopic image of the Sun's corona [ http://solar.physics.montana.edu/YPOP/Spotlight/Tour/ tour05.html ] or outer atmosphere shimmering around the silhouetted [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990818.html ] Moon was recorded near the centreline of the total eclipse path, 10 kilometers north of Beitbridge, Zimbabwe. At that location, near the Zimbabwe - South Africa [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE2002/TSE2002gif/ TP2002-Fig10s.gif ] border, the total phase pictured here lasted a leisurely one minute and 23 seconds. Zimbabwean [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020621.html ] photographer Murray Alexander reported that fortunately no clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011221.html ] interfered but few people were present, while many watching from the South Africa side were clouded out. Still, if you missed this geocentric celestial event [ http://skyandtelescope.com/news/current/ article_804_1.asp ], just wait until next year. Two solar eclipses [ http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html ] and two lunar eclipses [ http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/LEprimer.html ] are on planet Earth's schedule for 2003 [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OH2003.html ], along with a transit of Mercury [ http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/ transit03.html ]. |
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Tropical Cyclone Favio: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Tropical Cyclone Favio came
…
favio_amo_2007054
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-02-23 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
favio_amo_2007054 |
|
Tropical Cyclone Favio: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Tropical Cyclone Favio forme
…
favio_amo_2007051
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-02-20 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
favio_amo_2007051 |
|
Intense Seasonal Floods in S
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Zambeze_AMO_2008015
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-01-15 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Zambeze_AMO_2008015 |
|
Unusually Intense Rain Flood
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Heavier-than-normal rainfall
…
ge_08439
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-12-24 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
ge_08439 |
|
Unusually Intense Rain Flood
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Heavier-than-normal rainfall
…
ge_08439
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-12-24 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
ge_08439 |
|
Fire and Smoke in Angola: Na
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
In August and September, acc
…
terra_africa_28aug04
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-08-28 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
terra_africa_28aug04 |
|
Earth observations taken dur
…
johnsonspacecentermediaarchi
…
Earth observations taken dur
…
STS079-809-037
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
1996-09-24 |
| creator |
NASA |
| identifier |
STS079-809-037 |
|
Intense Seasonal Floods in S
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Mozambique_AMO_2008004
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-01-04 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Mozambique_AMO_2008004 |
|
Intense Seasonal Floods in S
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Heavier-than-normal rainfall
…
SouthernAfrica_TRM_2008025
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2008-01-25 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SouthernAfrica_TRM_2008025 |
|
Drought in Africa: Natural H
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
February is a key month for
…
africa_olra_tcer_feb2005
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-03-01 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
africa_olra_tcer_feb2005 |
|
Drought in Africa: Natural H
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
February is a key month for
…
africa_olra_tcer_feb2005
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-03-01 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
africa_olra_tcer_feb2005 |
|
Makgadikgadi Salt Pan, Botsw
…
| Title |
Makgadikgadi Salt Pan, Botswana, Africa |
| Description |
The Makgadikgadi Salt Pan of Botswana, an ancient lake bed, (19.0S, 26.0E) is one of the largest features in Botswana visible from orbit. Any water that spills out of the Okavango Swamplands flows into the Makagadikgadi where it evaporates. An ancient beach line can be seen as a smooth line around the west side of the pan and to the south, the Orapa diamond mine is seen as a small rectangle. Far to the east, can be seen the Great Dike of Zimbabwe. |
| Date Taken |
1992-01-19 |
|
Great Dike of Zimbabwe, Zimb
…
| Title |
Great Dike of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwae, Africa |
| Description |
The Great Dike of Zimbabwe (17.5S, 31.5E) bisects the entire length of Zimbabwae in southern Africa and is one of the prominent visual features easily recognized from low orbit. The volcanic rocks which make up the dike are about 1.2 billion years old and are rich in chromite and platinum which are mined from it. The straight line of the dike is offset in places by faults which are often occupied by streams flowing through the fractures. |
| Date Taken |
1993-01-19 |
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