|
|
Haze and Sediment in Banglad
| Title |
Haze and Sediment in Bangladesh and India |
| Description |
On January 27, 2007, haze sprawled from the southern edge of the Himalaya Mountains southward over the Bay of Bengal. In between, it clouded the skies over northern India and Bangladesh. In the south, thick sediment colored the Mouth of the Ganges shades of pale brown and blue-green. Such sediment is a natural occurrence, although land-use changes such as deforestation and agriculture can increase the sediment volume. The haze, mostly a mixture of urban and industrial pollution, often collects at the base of the mountains in the wintertime. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image on January 27, 2007. In this image, the haze appears thickest in the northwest. It thins toward the south, but haze is still clearly visible over the ocean. The haze appears to follow a distinct path toward the ocean, concentrating over the border between India and western Bangladesh. Farther west in India, and on the east side of Bangladesh, skies appear clear. Along the coastline of India and Bangladesh, the dark green Sundarbans [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans ] mangrove forests stand out from the otherwise brown landscape. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
|
Tropical Cyclone Sidr
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Sidr was continuing its northward progress over the Bay of Bengal on November 14, 2007. It was moving north toward the Mouths of the Ganges at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour (8 miles per hour), and winds in the storm system were raging at 220 km/hr (140 mph) near the storm's center, making it a Category 4 strength [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] tropical cyclone. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired this photo-like image at 10:15 a.m. local time (4:45 UTC) on November 14, 2007. Tropical Cyclone Sidr appears here as a well-developed and distinct ball of circling clouds, the storm has a distinct but cloudy eye at its center. An extended arm of clouds reaches northward from the storm across Bangladesh, bringing the influence of the storm onshore already even though it was hundreds of kilometers to the south. Western Bangladesh, where the storm appeared to be headed as of November 15, is the most heavily populated low-lying area in the world, with a history of severe causalities from previous storms due to both direct flooding and storm surge. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center [ https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php ] was predicting that the storm would weaken, but still make landfall with hurricane-force winds. In 1970, a Category 3 storm that made landfall in the same vicinity caused 300,000 deaths and was one of the most deadly natural disasters in modern history. Another 138,000 people perished in 1991 from another such cyclone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
|
Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
India's annual monsoon triggered widespread flooding throughout the country in early July 2007. In West Bengal, ABC News [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/08/1972766.htm ] reported, nearly a million people were stranded by flooding. Every major river in the East Indian state was swollen from torrential rain and releases from too-full reservoirs, ABC added. As of July 10, at least 187 people had died and 7 million had been affected by flooding across India, said Reuters. [ http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSDEL267798._CH_.2400 ] This image shows extensive flooding in West Bengal (top) and northern Orissa (lower left) as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on July 9, 2007. The lower image was taken on May 31, before the monsoon rains started. In this type of image, water is typically black, as seen in the Bay of Bengal. However, the water is heavily laden with mud in the flooded landscape, so its coloring is light blue. The extensive floods cut between the channels of the Ganges River, which flow into the Bay of Bengal in the center of the image, and extend southwest along the coast. Additional flooding is visible in the large image, which shows a broader area. Clouds, which appear light blue and white in this image made from infrared and visible light, cover the floods in Bangladesh to the east. In addition to causing floods, the monsoon rains have brought new life to eastern India. The landscape has gone from the tan-pink of bare earth to the bright green that indicates plant cover. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jul2007/eindia_tmo_2007190.kmz ] and comparison imagery from May 31, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
|
Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
India's annual monsoon triggered widespread flooding throughout the country in early July 2007. In West Bengal, ABC News [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/08/1972766.htm ] reported, nearly a million people were stranded by flooding. Every major river in the East Indian state was swollen from torrential rain and releases from too-full reservoirs, ABC added. As of July 10, at least 187 people had died and 7 million had been affected by flooding across India, said Reuters. [ http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSDEL267798._CH_.2400 ] This image shows extensive flooding in West Bengal (top) and northern Orissa (lower left) as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on July 9, 2007. The lower image was taken on May 31, before the monsoon rains started. In this type of image, water is typically black, as seen in the Bay of Bengal. However, the water is heavily laden with mud in the flooded landscape, so its coloring is light blue. The extensive floods cut between the channels of the Ganges River, which flow into the Bay of Bengal in the center of the image, and extend southwest along the coast. Additional flooding is visible in the large image, which shows a broader area. Clouds, which appear light blue and white in this image made from infrared and visible light, cover the floods in Bangladesh to the east. In addition to causing floods, the monsoon rains have brought new life to eastern India. The landscape has gone from the tan-pink of bare earth to the bright green that indicates plant cover. You can download a 250-meter-resolution KMZ file of the flooding [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Jul2007/eindia_tmo_2007190.kmz ] and comparison imagery from May 31, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
|
Flooding in Eastern India
| Title |
Flooding in Eastern India |
| Description |
Abutting the southern front of the snow-clad Himalaya Mountains, the broad, flat Ganges Plain is laced with rivers that transport glacial melt to the Bay of Bengal or the Arabian Sea. Not surprisingly, these rivers lead something of a Dr. JekyllMr. Hyde existence: during the dry winter, the rivers are small and sedate, their headwaters largely locked in ice. In the summer, temperatures in the mountains climb, melting mountain-top snow and fueling the Asian monsoon, and the rivers swell into roaring giants. Not every year is the same howeverthe monsoon may be wetter in a particular year or winter snows might be greater, leading to more snowmeltand 2007 numbered among the more extreme flood years. Heavy rain throughout July pushed the Ganges and its many tributaries over their banks, submerging large tracts of land in northeastern India. As of August 3, nearly 20 million people had been displaced in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, and 125 had died in India, reported BBC News. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927389.stm ] Among the most severely hit states was India's northeastern Bihar state. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of flooding on the Ganges and its tributaries on August 3, 2007. The lower image, captured by Aqua MODIS on June 4, 2007, shows the plain before the summer monsoon and snowmelt swelled the rivers. In these images (made with a combination of infrared and visible light), water is black or dark blue. Water takes on a brighter shade of blue when tinged with sediment. Clouds, pale blue and white, are scattered over the flooded region, which is bright green with vegetation. Sparsely vegetated areas or bare earth in the lower image are rose-tinted tan. On August 3, the Ganges, Gandak, and Kosi Rivers were so swollen that it was hard to see exactly where the rivers normally flow. The tributaries that feed the Kosi River, not even visible on June 4, have combined in a vast web of water-covered land. The light blue area under the clouds in the lower left corner of the image is probably water-soaked earth, not standing water. Though destructive, seasonal flooding in the Ganges River system blankets the plain with fertile alluvial soil, making it productive farmland. Because the plain is so fertile, it is one of the most densely populated regions on Earth.Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2007215 ] of northeastern India are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System in both false color, as shown here, and photo-like true color. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
|
Floods in Bangladesh
| Title |
Floods in Bangladesh |
| Description |
Bangladesh's annual monsoon started with unusually heavy rain, intensified by a storm from the Bay of Bengal on June 9-10, 2007. By June 11, more than one-third of the southeastern coastal city of Chittagong was under water, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200706/s1948143.htm ] In addition to the floods, the rains triggered devastating landslides in the deforested hills on which the city is built. The country-wide death toll from the floods and landslides neared 130 on June 12, said Reuters. [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LRON-744DMF?OpenDocument ] Most of the deaths were a result of the landslides or from buildings collapsing in the rain. This image shows rainfall totals over Bangladesh between June 4 and June 11, 2007. The rainfall totals are from the Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, which is based on measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite. Rainfall totals range from 0 to 100 millimeters (4 inches), shown in blue, to 400 mm (15.7 inches) to 500 mm (19.7 inches), shown in red. Most of the country received between 200 and 300 millimeters (7.9 to 11.8 inches) of rain during the week-long period, though there are several pockets of heavier rain. Chittagong sits in one such pocket, where up to 400 mm (15.7 inches) of rain fell. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. NASA images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
|
Tropical Cyclone Sidr: Natur
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Tropical Cyclone Sidr was co
sidr_tmo_2007318
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-11-14 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
sidr_tmo_2007318 |
|
Flooding in Eastern India: N
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
eindia_tmo_2007190
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-07-09 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
eindia_tmo_2007190 |
|
Floods in Bangladesh: Natura
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Bangladesh's annual monsoon
Bangladesh_TRM_2007162
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-06-11 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh_TRM_2007162 |
|
Monsoon Floods Inundate East
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
Abutting the southern front
Bihar_AMO_2007215
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-08-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image courtesy the rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
Bihar_AMO_2007215 |
|
Haze and Sediment in Banglad
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On January 27, 2007, haze sp
himben_amo_2007027
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-01-27 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
himben_amo_2007027 |
|
|