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Drought in East Africa
| Title |
Drought in East Africa |
| Description |
Six successive years of poor rain have left Eastern Africa in severe drought. Rain typically falls between February and June, and 2005 looked promising when rains started to fall in January. The promise dried up, however, when the rains stopped, leaving the latter half of March and the first half of April dry. The cumulative impact of poor rainfall on plants is visible in this vegetation anomaly image. The image was created using data collected by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer between April 11, and April 20, 2005, compared to average conditions. Brown blankets regions where vegetation was less healthy and thick than normal, while green shows thicker vegetation than average. The band of brown that stretches west from Somalia reveals that the poor rainfall has withered vegetation across the region. Rainfall is essential for reviving pastoral lands and filling water catchments in this water-scarce region. Life in the pastoral societies impacted by this drought revolves around livestock. The poor rain and lack of vegetation have led to a decline in milk production and livestock deaths?a formula for famine. Millions throughout Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya are in need of food aid. In Ethiopia, where 7.5 million require food aid, the most severely affected populations live in the south and the east. This correlates well with the image, which shows the most drought-affected vegetation in southeast Ethiopia. Heavy rains fell in Ethiopia and Somalia in late April, triggering deadly floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12846 ] in southeast Ethiopia. Though tragic, the rains may help alleviate the drought. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of Molly Brown, NASA GIMMS Group [ http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ ] at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
|
Drought in East Africa
| Title |
Drought in East Africa |
| Description |
Six successive years of poor rain have left Eastern Africa in severe drought. Rain typically falls between February and June, and 2005 looked promising when rains started to fall in January. The promise dried up, however, when the rains stopped, leaving the latter half of March and the first half of April dry. The cumulative impact of poor rainfall on plants is visible in this vegetation anomaly image. The image was created using data collected by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer between April 11, and April 20, 2005, compared to average conditions. Brown blankets regions where vegetation was less healthy and thick than normal, while green shows thicker vegetation than average. The band of brown that stretches west from Somalia reveals that the poor rainfall has withered vegetation across the region. Rainfall is essential for reviving pastoral lands and filling water catchments in this water-scarce region. Life in the pastoral societies impacted by this drought revolves around livestock. The poor rain and lack of vegetation have led to a decline in milk production and livestock deaths?a formula for famine. Millions throughout Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya are in need of food aid. In Ethiopia, where 7.5 million require food aid, the most severely affected populations live in the south and the east. This correlates well with the image, which shows the most drought-affected vegetation in southeast Ethiopia. Heavy rains fell in Ethiopia and Somalia in late April, triggering deadly floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12846 ] in southeast Ethiopia. Though tragic, the rains may help alleviate the drought. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of Molly Brown, NASA GIMMS Group [ http://ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ ] at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Drought in East Africa
| Title |
Drought in East Africa |
| Description |
The failure of the short-season rains left large sections of East Africa in severe drought in late 2005 and early 2006. In eastern Africa, most areas experience one of two rainfall patterns. Some places have a single "long rains" season that runs from March until November or December. Other areas have two rainy seasons: long rains between March/April and July/August, and "short rains" from October to December or January. The rains recharge lakes and reservoirs and nurture plants from crops and pasture lands to natural vegetation. For East Africa, 2005 was anything but a normal year. The long rainy season produced little rain, and the short rainy season failed altogether. As a result, rainfall totals for the year were only 20-60 percent of normal, depending on the region, reported the Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS NET). The drought's impact on vegetation can be seen in this vegetation index image, collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) at the end of the short rainy season. The image shows how well plants were growing between December 19 and January 3 compared to average conditions between 2000 and 2004. The prevalence of deep reddish-brown across the image indicates that plants were growing poorly, if at all, in the dry conditions. The drought area shown in this image circles Lake Victoria in a north-south-oriented oval that stretches from southern Sudan and Ethiopia in the north to Tanzania in the south. Grey areas show where clouds covered the area throughout the composite period. The impact of the drought has been severe. "This drought has resulted in crop failures, pasture degradation, water shortages, and has raised serious food security concerns for the region," FEWS NET warned. By the end of January 2006, millions were in need of food aid, particularly pastoralists who depend on rain-fed pasture lands to maintain their livestock. Not all of East Africa has been affected. Kenya (center right) had a bumper harvest in 2005, but little of the crop made its way to the drought-hit pastoral districts of the country. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Inbal Reshef as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project between NASA, USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and the University of Maryland. More data and information about this joint project is available at Satellite Information for Agricultural Monitoring. [ http://tripwire.geog.umd.edu/usda/ ] |
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Solar Eclipse over Africa
| Title |
Solar Eclipse over Africa |
| Description |
Eastern Africa was cloaked in darkness when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite caught this image on October 3, 2005. The inky blackness that covers much of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and parts of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this image was caused when the Moon crossed in front of the Sun in an annular solar eclipse. During such an eclipse, the Sun is visible as a fiery circle around the black disk of the moon. In the dimness beneath the Moon's shadow, very little light remained for MODIS to capture this image. Under normal conditions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?NAfrica_3_07/2005276 ], the land in the lower half of the image is a lush green, with patches of tan where the land is bare. Here, the tan areas have a red tint in the low light, while the green is completely black. Red dots show where fires were burning in vegetated areas. In the top half of the image, the orange of the Sahara desert is shown in darker tones than normal [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?NAfrica_2_07/2005276 ]. Only in the upper right corner of the image, where full daylight has returned, does the desert look normal. Gradations of darkness within the shadowed area can be seen in the clouds. Bright white clouds reflect light well, so they are easily visible, even in the shadow. Since some light reached the Earth, the clouds remain bright along the outer edges of the shadowed region. As the eclipse progressed, the moon's shadow traveled southeast across the globe. When this image was taken, the deepest shadow lay over Kenya in the lower right corner of the image. Here the clouds are darker, an indication that there was less light to reflect back to the satellite. If this had been a total solar eclipse, the shadow cast by the moon would have been complete. The difference between a total solar eclipse and an annular eclipse is caused by the Moon's orbit around the Earth. The Moon's orbit is not circular, it is elliptical, like a squashed circle with the Earth at its center. This means that the Moon is not always the same distance from the Earth. When it is close to the Earth, the Moon appears larger than when it is far away. During a total solar eclipse, the Moon is closer to the Earth and so is able to block out the Sun entirely. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is farther from the Earth, and so the Moon's disk is not large enough to cover the Sun. The large image provided above has a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. It is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Tiny blue flecks in the large image are defects in the data. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Chad
| Title |
Floods in Chad |
| Description |
Ghana, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14528 ] Senegal, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14526 ] Mali, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14534 ] Uganda, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14536 ] and Sudan [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14499 ] are available on the Earth Observatory. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/ ] of Africa's Sahel region, where the floods were concentrated, are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC., The Sahel grassland is a rain-dependent ecosystem. With no mountain snowpacks to provide water during the dry season or daily infusions of water from moist air masses, the fortunes of the great African grasslands depend entirely on seasonal rain. The contrast between the dry season and the rainy season is illustrated by this pair of images, both captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. MODIS took the top image on September 18, 2007, after several weeks of unusually heavy rain had fallen over the Sahel. At the time, as many as 17 countries were flooded, from Senegal, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to Kenya on the continent's east coast. The lower image was taken on July 4, 4007, a short time before the rains started in earnest. The images show Lake Firtri and the Batha River in southern Chad, a short distance east of Lake Chad. In the combination of infrared and visible light used to create these images, water is typically black, though in this case, it is bright blue. Sediment in the water scatters light, creating the blue color. In July, the only visible water is in Lake Fitri. Traces of green vegetation in the wetlands around the lake and along the Batha River are the only indication that water might be present elsewhere in the scene. Beyond these green areas, the landscape around the lake is mostly the rosy tan of barren land. The cluster of waves in the land to the north of Lake Fitri is likely a dune field along the southernmost edge of the Sahara Desert. Clouds, turquoise blue in this false-color image, gather on the southern edge of the scene. By September 18, water had changed southern Chad completely. The region went from dry to flooded. Lake Fitri had nearly doubled in size as the wetlands filled with water. The Batha River ran high, its channel clearly defined by a bold blue line of water. The land is vibrant green, covered with the grasses that sprang up in response to the rains. The rains and resulting floods cut off or severely hampered access to refugee camps along Chad's southeastern border with the Darfur region of Sudan, making the delivery of supplies difficult, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a report [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LRON-778HGZ?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000151-TCD ] issued on September 20. The rains were expected to continue through early October. Chad was just one of many African countries that were flooded in September 2007. As many as 17 countries and more than a million people were affected by flooding across Africa, reported BBC News on September 17. Images of flood areas in Nigeria, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14532 ] |
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Floods in East Africa
| Title |
Floods in East Africa |
| Description |
As the short rainy season in East Africa drew closer to its seasonal end, waters continued to rise on rivers and in wetlands throughout the region. Devastating floods swept through Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and parts of surrounding countries starting at the end of October 2006 and continuing through December, as the short rainy season unleashed unusually heavy rains. According to the United States Agency for International Development, [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6WD3QS?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2006-000169-SOM ] as many as 1.5 million people have been affected by floods in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Though the rainy season typically ends in December, the rains were predicted to continue into January and possibly longer in some regions. The Lotagipi Swamp, in northwestern Kenya and southern Sudan, brimmed with water when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on 's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on December 11, 2006. The lower image was acquired a month earlier, when the swamp was relatively dry. Silty water, pale blue, streams through the swamp, with sections of deeper, clear water forming a dark blue boundary on the northern and eastern edges. The Lotagipi Swamp lies in the Ilemi Triangle, [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ke.html ] a segment of land that by treaty is in Sudan, but is administered by Kenya. The rain has turned the landscape a vibrant green with the growth of fresh vegetation. Patches of tan indicate areas where few or no plants are growing. Scattered clouds are pale blue and white in this image made from a combination of visible and infrared light. Photo-like, true-color images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?NAfrica_3_07/2006345 ] of the region are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team twice daily. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in East Africa
| Title |
Floods in East Africa |
| Description |
As the short rainy season in East Africa drew closer to its seasonal end, waters continued to rise on rivers and in wetlands throughout the region. Devastating floods swept through Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and parts of surrounding countries starting at the end of October 2006 and continuing through December, as the short rainy season unleashed unusually heavy rains. According to the United States Agency for International Development, [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6WD3QS?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2006-000169-SOM ] as many as 1.5 million people have been affected by floods in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Though the rainy season typically ends in December, the rains were predicted to continue into January and possibly longer in some regions. The Lotagipi Swamp, in northwestern Kenya and southern Sudan, brimmed with water when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on 's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on December 11, 2006. The lower image was acquired a month earlier, when the swamp was relatively dry. Silty water, pale blue, streams through the swamp, with sections of deeper, clear water forming a dark blue boundary on the northern and eastern edges. The Lotagipi Swamp lies in the Ilemi Triangle, [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ke.html ] a segment of land that by treaty is in Sudan, but is administered by Kenya. The rain has turned the landscape a vibrant green with the growth of fresh vegetation. Patches of tan indicate areas where few or no plants are growing. Scattered clouds are pale blue and white in this image made from a combination of visible and infrared light. Photo-like, true-color images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?NAfrica_3_07/2006345 ] of the region are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team twice daily. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Nalubaale Dam, Uganda: Image
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Dam KML file for use with ea
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nalubaale_etm_2001331
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2001-11-27 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Landsat-7 data provided by the UMD glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml Global Land Cover Facility. |
| identifier |
nalubaale_etm_2001331 |
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Floods in Chad: Image of the
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Chad_TMO_2007261
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-18 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA images courtesy the rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. |
| identifier |
Chad_TMO_2007261 |
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Drought in East Africa: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Six successive years of poor
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eafrica_avhrr_11-20apr05
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-04-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
eafrica_avhrr_11-20apr05 |
|
Drought in East Africa: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Six successive years of poor
…
eafrica_avhrr_11-20apr05
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-04-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
eafrica_avhrr_11-20apr05 |
|
Locusts in Kenya: Image of t
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
'For the first time since 19
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kenyandvia_spt_2007324
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-12-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
kenyandvia_spt_2007324 |
|
Solar Eclipse over Africa: I
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Eastern Africa was cloaked i
…
EastAfrica_AMO_2005276
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-10-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA images courtesy the rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. |
| identifier |
EastAfrica_AMO_2005276 |
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East Africa : Image of the D
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
This image shows the East Af
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seawifs_ethiopia
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2000-11-29 |
| creator |
NASA -- Provided by the seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE |
| identifier |
seawifs_ethiopia |
|
Drought in Eastern Africa: I
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
In eastern Africa, most area
…
africandvia_spt_200602_palet
…
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Jennifer Small, NASA ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
africandvia_spt_200602_palette |
|
Drought in Eastern Africa: I
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
In eastern Africa, most area
…
africandvia_spt_200602_palet
…
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Jennifer Small, NASA ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
africandvia_spt_200602_palette |
|
Drought in Eastern Africa: I
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
In eastern Africa, most area
…
africandvia_spt_200602_palet
…
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Jennifer Small, NASA ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
africandvia_spt_200602_palette |
|
Drought in Eastern Africa: I
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
In eastern Africa, most area
…
africandvia_spt_200602_palet
…
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of Jennifer Small, NASA ltpwww.gsfc.nasa.gov/gimms/htdocs/ GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
africandvia_spt_200602_palette |
|
Floods in East Africa: Natur
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Kenya_TMO_2006345
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2006-12-11 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Kenya_TMO_2006345 |
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Drought in East Africa: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The failure of the short-sea
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eafrica_tmo_2005353_palette
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-12-19 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
eafrica_tmo_2005353_palette |
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Drought in East Africa: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The failure of the short-sea
…
eafrica_tmo_2005353_palette
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-12-19 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
eafrica_tmo_2005353_palette |
|
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