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Dust Storm over Morocco and
…
| Title |
Dust Storm over Morocco and Algeria |
| Description |
On June 23, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of a dust storm blowing out over the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco (bottom left) and Algeria (bottom right). At top left is Spain. The northern reaches of the Sahara Desert (bottom) are blocked from the Mediterranean by the coastal Atlas Mountains. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Locusts Plague Northwest and
…
| Title |
Locusts Plague Northwest and Western Africa |
| Description |
A wet winter and spring settled over northwestern Africa in 2004, and the dry Sahel bloomed with life. As the desert turned green, the plentiful water nourished more than vegetation. Buried in the sandy soils were the eggs of desert locusts, waiting to absorb moisture and hatch. This year, there was enough water and vegetation to support large populations of young locusts, and by late summer, several large swarms had developed. Swarms of locusts can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometer, and may cover several square kilometers. An adult locust can eat its own weight in food every day, about two grams, which means that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a small part of a typical swarm can eat as much food as 2,500 people in a single day. At these rates, the locusts consume most vegetation in their path and then must migrate to find new sources of food. The locust outbreak of 2004 began in Morocco and Algeria in northwestern Africa. While the locusts can't be seen in satellite imagery, the conditions that support them are clearly visible. The above image shows how vegetation differed from previous years. The image is a composite of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data collected between April 6 and April 13, 2004. Green areas indicate that there was more vegetation in the region than the average of the past four years. Not surprisingly, these areas correlate well with the early breeding grounds of the locusts near the interface between dry desert land and wetter coastal land. When their numbers and the ending growing season forced the locusts to move, they traveled south and east on the summer winds. As of October 5, the locusts had expanded to the south in a band that stretched from Mauritania to Chad?a distance of roughly 4,000 kilometers. Currently, Mauritania is the worst affected, but Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Cape Verde Islands have also been plagued with locusts. The swarms are now starting to move north again, this time into Libya and Algeria. On October 1, three to four million hectares of land were infested with locusts. As before, satellite imagery shows where locust swarms can migrate to find food by indicating where food is available. In the lower image, a composite of data collected between August 28 and September 4, 2004, pockets of green in southern Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso show where the locusts are finding food and breeding. The most recent information from FAO shows that these are indeed the areas where the locusts are concentrated. Though the locusts themselves are harmless, they can cause significant crop damage. The worst of the problem is in Mauritania, where dark clouds of locusts have swarmed over much of the country. Rainfall had been good, and farmers anticipated a better-than-average harvest until the locusts arrived. Mauritania?s national food security authority expected to lose up to 75, percent of the cereal crop, though the Food and Agriculture Oragnization (FOA) of the United Nations expected a smaller loss. Undoubtedly, the insects are causing considerable damage, but both the Foreign Agricultural Service [ http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2004/08/west_africa/index.htm ] of the United States Department of Agriculture and the FAO say that it?s too early to quantify how the outbreak will impact overall production. Harvest began in September and continues through November, and the amount of crops that the locusts consume in the meantime will depend on how effective efforts to control them are and whether or not the locusts continue to breed. To read more about the current locust situation in Africa, please visit the Desert Locust Information Service [ http://www.fao.org/news/global/locusts/locuhome.htm ], a service provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. For more information about monitoring locust outbreaks with satellites, see Locust! [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Locusts/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Mark Carrol as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project between NASA, USDA?s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland. Assaf Anyamba from the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology Center, and Curt Reynolds with FAS, contributed to the caption as part of the same partnership. More data and information about this joint project is available at Satellite Information for Agricultural Monitoring. |
|
Locusts Plague Northwest and
…
| Title |
Locusts Plague Northwest and Western Africa |
| Description |
A wet winter and spring settled over northwestern Africa in 2004, and the dry Sahel bloomed with life. As the desert turned green, the plentiful water nourished more than vegetation. Buried in the sandy soils were the eggs of desert locusts, waiting to absorb moisture and hatch. This year, there was enough water and vegetation to support large populations of young locusts, and by late summer, several large swarms had developed. Swarms of locusts can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometer, and may cover several square kilometers. An adult locust can eat its own weight in food every day, about two grams, which means that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a small part of a typical swarm can eat as much food as 2,500 people in a single day. At these rates, the locusts consume most vegetation in their path and then must migrate to find new sources of food. The locust outbreak of 2004 began in Morocco and Algeria in northwestern Africa. While the locusts can't be seen in satellite imagery, the conditions that support them are clearly visible. The above image shows how vegetation differed from previous years. The image is a composite of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data collected between April 6 and April 13, 2004. Green areas indicate that there was more vegetation in the region than the average of the past four years. Not surprisingly, these areas correlate well with the early breeding grounds of the locusts near the interface between dry desert land and wetter coastal land. When their numbers and the ending growing season forced the locusts to move, they traveled south and east on the summer winds. As of October 5, the locusts had expanded to the south in a band that stretched from Mauritania to Chad?a distance of roughly 4,000 kilometers. Currently, Mauritania is the worst affected, but Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Cape Verde Islands have also been plagued with locusts. The swarms are now starting to move north again, this time into Libya and Algeria. On October 1, three to four million hectares of land were infested with locusts. As before, satellite imagery shows where locust swarms can migrate to find food by indicating where food is available. In the lower image, a composite of data collected between August 28 and September 4, 2004, pockets of green in southern Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso show where the locusts are finding food and breeding. The most recent information from FAO shows that these are indeed the areas where the locusts are concentrated. Though the locusts themselves are harmless, they can cause significant crop damage. The worst of the problem is in Mauritania, where dark clouds of locusts have swarmed over much of the country. Rainfall had been good, and farmers anticipated a better-than-average harvest until the locusts arrived. Mauritania?s national food security authority expected to lose up to 75, percent of the cereal crop, though the Food and Agriculture Oragnization (FOA) of the United Nations expected a smaller loss. Undoubtedly, the insects are causing considerable damage, but both the Foreign Agricultural Service [ http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2004/08/west_africa/index.htm ] of the United States Department of Agriculture and the FAO say that it?s too early to quantify how the outbreak will impact overall production. Harvest began in September and continues through November, and the amount of crops that the locusts consume in the meantime will depend on how effective efforts to control them are and whether or not the locusts continue to breed. To read more about the current locust situation in Africa, please visit the Desert Locust Information Service [ http://www.fao.org/news/global/locusts/locuhome.htm ], a service provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. For more information about monitoring locust outbreaks with satellites, see Locust! [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Locusts/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Mark Carrol as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project between NASA, USDA?s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland. Assaf Anyamba from the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology Center, and Curt Reynolds with FAS, contributed to the caption as part of the same partnership. More data and information about this joint project is available at Satellite Information for Agricultural Monitoring. |
|
Locusts Plague Northwest and
…
| Title |
Locusts Plague Northwest and Western Africa |
| Description |
A wet winter and spring settled over northwestern Africa in 2004, and the dry Sahel bloomed with life. As the desert turned green, the plentiful water nourished more than vegetation. Buried in the sandy soils were the eggs of desert locusts, waiting to absorb moisture and hatch. This year, there was enough water and vegetation to support large populations of young locusts, and by late summer, several large swarms had developed. Swarms of locusts can contain as many as 80 million locusts per square kilometer, and may cover several square kilometers. An adult locust can eat its own weight in food every day, about two grams, which means that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, a small part of a typical swarm can eat as much food as 2,500 people in a single day. At these rates, the locusts consume most vegetation in their path and then must migrate to find new sources of food. The locust outbreak of 2004 began in Morocco and Algeria in northwestern Africa. While the locusts can't be seen in satellite imagery, the conditions that support them are clearly visible. The above image shows how vegetation differed from previous years. The image is a composite of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data collected between April 6 and April 13, 2004. Green areas indicate that there was more vegetation in the region than the average of the past four years. Not surprisingly, these areas correlate well with the early breeding grounds of the locusts near the interface between dry desert land and wetter coastal land. When their numbers and the ending growing season forced the locusts to move, they traveled south and east on the summer winds. As of October 5, the locusts had expanded to the south in a band that stretched from Mauritania to Chad?a distance of roughly 4,000 kilometers. Currently, Mauritania is the worst affected, but Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and the Cape Verde Islands have also been plagued with locusts. The swarms are now starting to move north again, this time into Libya and Algeria. On October 1, three to four million hectares of land were infested with locusts. As before, satellite imagery shows where locust swarms can migrate to find food by indicating where food is available. In the lower image, a composite of data collected between August 28 and September 4, 2004, pockets of green in southern Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso show where the locusts are finding food and breeding. The most recent information from FAO shows that these are indeed the areas where the locusts are concentrated. Though the locusts themselves are harmless, they can cause significant crop damage. The worst of the problem is in Mauritania, where dark clouds of locusts have swarmed over much of the country. Rainfall had been good, and farmers anticipated a better-than-average harvest until the locusts arrived. Mauritania?s national food security authority expected to lose up to 75, percent of the cereal crop, though the Food and Agriculture Oragnization (FOA) of the United Nations expected a smaller loss. Undoubtedly, the insects are causing considerable damage, but both the Foreign Agricultural Service [ http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad/highlights/2004/08/west_africa/index.htm ] of the United States Department of Agriculture and the FAO say that it?s too early to quantify how the outbreak will impact overall production. Harvest began in September and continues through November, and the amount of crops that the locusts consume in the meantime will depend on how effective efforts to control them are and whether or not the locusts continue to breed. To read more about the current locust situation in Africa, please visit the Desert Locust Information Service [ http://www.fao.org/news/global/locusts/locuhome.htm ], a service provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. For more information about monitoring locust outbreaks with satellites, see Locust! [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Locusts/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Mark Carrol as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project between NASA, USDA?s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland. Assaf Anyamba from the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology Center, and Curt Reynolds with FAS, contributed to the caption as part of the same partnership. More data and information about this joint project is available at Satellite Information for Agricultural Monitoring. |
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Dust Storm over Morocco and
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On June 23, 2003, the modis.
…
NorthAfrica.TMOA2003174
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-06-23 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
NorthAfrica.TMOA2003174 |
|
West Africa : Image of the D
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
With its vast expanses of sa
…
west_africa
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2001 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image by Reto Stöckli, Robert Simmon, and Brian Montgomery, NASA Earth Observatory, based on data from modarch.gsfc.nasa.gov/ MODIS |
| identifier |
west_africa |
|
Where Europe meets Africa: I
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
This natural-color satellite
…
PIA04376
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2002 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/ MISR Team. Jim Knighton ( jknighton@clear-light.com jknighton@clear-light.com ) of Clear Light Image Products produced the image mosaic. Please note that the image shown here is at a pixel resolution of approximately 1.1 kilometers, but a more detailed version at a resolution of 278 meters is available from the producer. Text by Clare Averill (Raytheon ITSS / Jet Propulsion Laboratory). |
| identifier |
PIA04376 |
|
Topography of Western Algeri
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
The margin of northwestern A
…
ge_07946
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-10-25 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image by Robert Simmon based on data from the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team |
| identifier |
ge_07946 |
|
Topography of Western Algeri
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
The margin of northwestern A
…
ge_07946
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-10-25 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image by Robert Simmon based on data from the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ASTER Science Team |
| identifier |
ge_07946 |
|
Flooding in Southern Algeria
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
algeria_TMO_2006046
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
February 15, 2006 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
algeria_TMO_2006046 |
|
Morocco : Image of the Day
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
This true-color image over M
…
modis_morocco
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2000-04-23 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Group, NASA GSFC |
| identifier |
modis_morocco |
|
Where Europe meets Africa
PIA04376
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR
…
| Title |
Where Europe meets Africa |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Data from a portion of the imagery acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera during 2000-2002 were combined to create this cloud-free natural-color mosaic of southwestern Europe and northwestern Morocco and Algeria. The image extends from 48°N, 16°W in the northwest to 32°N, 8°E in the southeast. It is displayed in Albers conic equal-area projection (a projection which is frequently used for equal-area maps of regions that are predominantly east-west in extent). From the northeast, the image traverses a portion of the Swiss Alps (partially snow-covered) and a small part of Italy's Po Valley. The northern portion of the image also includes the western coast of France and much of southern and southwestern France's undulating terrain, which continues until reaching the hills of the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees act as the natural frontier to the Iberian Peninsula -- a landmass comprised of Spain and Portugal. The Peninsular landscapes are extremely varied, with some almost desert-like, others green and fertile. About half of Spain is situated atop a high plain, known as the Central Plateau, and many mountain ranges, rivers, geological basement rock and vegetation types are found across this great plateau. The largest alluvial plain is Andalusia in the south, where the valley of the Guadalquivir River is shut in by mountain ranges on every side except the southwest, where the valley descends to the Atlantic. The islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza are Spanish territories in the western Mediterranean. At the Strait of Gibralter, Spain and Morocco very nearly kiss, and Morocco appears relatively verdant along its northern coastal corner. The rugged Atlas Mountain ranges traverse northern Algeria and Morocco. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. This data product was generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during 2000-2002. MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. |
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