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Forest Fires in Nepal
On March 12, 2009, the Moder
…
3/16/09
| Description |
On March 12, 2009, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite caught a glimpse of a relatively rare event: largeÔò__É__scale forest fires in the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal. Places where the sensor detected active fires are outlined in red. The numerous small fires in southern Nepal may not be wildfires, but rather agricultural or other land-management fires. The image is centered on Nepal, and it shows the towering Himalaya Mountains arcing through the small country. Many national parks and conservation areas are located along the northern border of the country, and the fires appear to be burning in or very near some of them. Five people were killed by the forest fire southwest of Annapurna in early March, according to a news report they were overtaken while in the forest gathering firewood. According to that report, Nepal commonly experiences some small forest fires each spring, which is the end of the dry season there. However, conditions during the fall and winter of 2008 and 2009 were unusually dry, and fires set by poachers to flush game may have gotten out of control. Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team Text credit: Rebecca Lindsey, NASA's Earth Observatory |
| Date |
3/16/09 |
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Mount Everest Radar/Optical
These are two comparison ima
…
2/9/95
| Date |
2/9/95 |
| Description |
These are two comparison images of Mount Everest and its surroundings, along the border of Nepal and Tibet. The peak of Mount Everest, the highest elevation on Earth at 8,848 meters (29,028 feet), can be seen near the center of each image. The image at the top was acquired through thick cloud cover by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 16, 1994. The image on the bottom is an optical photograph taken by the Endeavour crew under clear conditions during the second flight of SIR-C/X-SAR on October 10, 1994. Both images show an area approximately 70 kilometers by 38 kilometers (43 miles by 24 miles) that is centered at 28.0 degrees north latitude and 86.9 degrees east longitude. North is toward the upper left. The colors in the radar image were obtained using the following radar channels: red represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and received), green represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and vertically received), blue represents the C- band (horizontally transmitted and vertically received). Radar illumination is from the top of the frame. The optical photograph has been geometrically adjusted to better match the area shown in the radar image. Many features of the Himalayan terrain are visible in both images. Snow covered areas appear white in the optical photograph while the same areas appear bright blue in the radar image. The radar image was taken in early spring and shows deep snow cover, while the optical photograph was taken in late summer and shows minimum snow cover. The curving and branching features seen in both images are glaciers. The two wavelengths and multiple polarizations of the SIR-C radar are sensitive to characteristics of the glacier surfaces that are not detected by conventional photography, such as the ice roughness, water content and stratification. For this reason, the glaciers show a variety of colors in the radar image (blue, purple, red, yellow, white) but only appear as gray or white in the photograph. Field data from other SIR-C/X-SAR test sites, such as the Alpine glaciers of Austria, are being used to help interpret data from remote regions like Mount Everest. ----- Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changeswhich are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. |
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Onboard Photo of Mt. Everest
| Name of Image |
Onboard Photo of Mt. Everest |
| Date of Image |
2002-03-20 |
| Full Description |
Astronaut Daniel W. Bursch, Expedition Four flight engineer, was delighted in capturing this image of Mt. Everest in the Himalayan Range from aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The mountain is near frame center. Because the photo was taken close to orbital sunrise, the low sun angle gave tremendous relief to the mountains. Named for Sir George Everest, the British surveyor-general of India, Mount Everest is the tallest point on earth. Standing 29,028 feet tall, it is 5 1/2 miles above sea level. Mount Everest is located half in Nepal and half in Tibet. |
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Floods in India and Banglade
…
| Title |
Floods in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Large parts of Bangladesh (center) and India (left and upper right) are underwater in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured August 6, 2003 (top image). The images have been enhanced to show the presence of water, which appears dark blue, while vegetation remains green, and clouds are white (liquid water) or light blue (ice crystals). Snow on the Himalaya Mountains, which run across the top of the image, is bright blue. Compared to an image captured on March 5 (bottom) before the onset of the seasonal monsoon, rivers appear to be out of their banks and the terrain surrounding the Ganges River (flowing in from left edge) and the Brahmaputra River (flowing in from upper right) is waterlogged, with standing water giving the landscape a bruised appearance. Although flooding during the monsoon is normal, many parts of India, Bangladesh and Nepal are experiencing more severe flooding than usual. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Floods in India and Banglade
…
| Title |
Floods in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Some of the worst flooding in over a decade is now being reported across southern Asia as a result of summer monsoon rains. So far, there have been over 240 fatalities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh since the flooding began, and up to 10 million people have been displaced by the widespread flooding. Nepal has been hit hard by flash floods and mudslides. In India, the hardest hit states are Assam and Bihar. Twenty-two of the 24 districts in Assam are reported to be under water as the Brahmaputra river continues to rise. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh the worst hit province is Sylhet where the Surma and Kushiyara rivers have flooded widespread areas. Sylhet borders the Indian state of Assam. Since its launch in November of 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite has been providing un-precedented estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. Armed with both passive and active sensors, TRMM is able to cover vast areas of the Tropics where rainfall is poorly measured such as over oceans and over land areas where radar coverage is poor or lacking. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals for the period 5-12 July 2004 are shown for southern Asia. Widespread areas of 10 inches or more (red areas) occur along southern Nepal, northern and northeastern India and northern and southeastern Bangladesh. Some of the highest totals approaching 16 inches (dark red areas) are over central Nepal at the base of the Himalayan Mountains and over the Khasi Hills near the border between province of Sylhet in Bangladesh and the state of Assam, India. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Floods in India and Banglade
…
| Title |
Floods in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Some of the worst flooding in over a decade is now being reported across southern Asia as a result of summer monsoon rains. So far, there have been over 240 fatalities in Nepal, India and Bangladesh since the flooding began, and up to 10 million people have been displaced by the widespread flooding. Nepal has been hit hard by flash floods and mudslides. In India, the hardest hit states are Assam and Bihar. Twenty-two of the 24 districts in Assam are reported to be under water as the Brahmaputra river continues to rise. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh the worst hit province is Sylhet where the Surma and Kushiyara rivers have flooded widespread areas. Sylhet borders the Indian state of Assam. Since its launch in November of 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite has been providing un-precedented estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. Armed with both passive and active sensors, TRMM is able to cover vast areas of the Tropics where rainfall is poorly measured such as over oceans and over land areas where radar coverage is poor or lacking. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals for the period 5-12 July 2004 are shown for southern Asia. Widespread areas of 10 inches or more (red areas) occur along southern Nepal, northern and northeastern India and northern and southeastern Bangladesh. Some of the highest totals approaching 16 inches (dark red areas) are over central Nepal at the base of the Himalayan Mountains and over the Khasi Hills near the border between province of Sylhet in Bangladesh and the state of Assam, India. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Floods in India and Banglade
…
| Title |
Floods in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Though flood waters have begun to recede in Bangladesh, much of the country remains water-logged. This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) image, taken on August 2, 2004, by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, shows dark blue and black flood water over much of the eastern half of the country. Light blue clouds partially obscure the false-color scene where vegetation is bright green. According to the Associated Press, 586 had died in Bangladesh as a result of the floods as of August 1, bringing the toll of this year's floods to 1,551 in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Up to 30 million are homeless. The above image shows the floods at 250 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2004215/FAS_Bangladesh.2004215.aqua.721 ]. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Floods in Pakistan
| Title |
Floods in Pakistan |
| Description |
Normally floods are triggered by heavy rains, but the floods along the Indus River were caused by a heat wave followed by monsoon rains. High temperatures across southern Asia rapidly melted mountain snow packs, sending a gush of water down rivers across the region. The result has been widespread flooding along the arc of the Himalaya, the Hindu Kush, and the Pamirs spanning from Nepal to Tajikistan. Many of the flooded rivers empty into the Indus River, leaving it swollen beyond its normal size. Between June 18, 2005, right, and July 10, left, the river has nearly tripled in size. Both of these images were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]). This false color combination highlights the presence of water, which is dark blue. Clouds are light blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained by the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Floods in Pakistan
| Title |
Floods in Pakistan |
| Description |
Normally floods are triggered by heavy rains, but the floods along the Indus River were caused by a heat wave followed by monsoon rains. High temperatures across southern Asia rapidly melted mountain snow packs, sending a gush of water down rivers across the region. The result has been widespread flooding along the arc of the Himalaya, the Hindu Kush, and the Pamirs spanning from Nepal to Tajikistan. Many of the flooded rivers empty into the Indus River, leaving it swollen beyond its normal size. Between June 18, 2005, right, and July 10, left, the river has nearly tripled in size. Both of these images were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]). This false color combination highlights the presence of water, which is dark blue. Clouds are light blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained by the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Haze along the Himalaya Fron
…
| Title |
Haze along the Himalaya Front Range |
| Description |
A film of haze hangs over northern India along the dark green curve of the Himalaya Mountains in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image, taken on November 10, 2004, by NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. The haze is probably being caused by widespread agricultural fires [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12558 ] burning along the mountain front. The fires have been marked with small red dots. Urban pollution and industry may also have contributed to the pollution. This pattern of haze is common in India and Nepal because the southern air mass cannot pass over the barrier formed by the Himalaya. The mountains also seem to be blocking clouds from moving from China, top right, to India and Pakistan, lower left. China is cloudy, but the areas southwest of the mountains are mostly clear. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Haze and Sediment in Banglad
…
| Title |
Haze and Sediment in Bangladesh and India |
| Description |
More haze hugged the Himalaya Mountains on January 21, 2007, clouding the skies over northern India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. In the south, thick sediment clogged the mouth of the Ganges. During the Northern Hemisphere winter, haze often collects at the base of the mountains, trapped there in part by weather systems. Sediment flowing from the mouth of the Ganges is a natural occurrence, but it can be exacerbated by land-use changes as an area industrializes. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite took this picture on January 21, 2007. In this image, the haze appears as a dingy, gray-beige fog over the region, pushing south into Bangladesh. Skies are clearer to the south, and this image offers a clear view of the Sundarbans [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundarbans ] that straddle the border between India and Bangladesh. In the east, the land surface vaguely resembles marbled paper [ http://www.gilesorr.com/Venice/marbled/ ]—the result of the same continental collision that formed the Himalayas. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Haze over India
| Title |
Haze over India |
| Description |
Haze collected over northern India, near the border with Nepal, on October 15, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, a dingy gray haze obscures the view of the land below. The haze hugs the border with Nepal in the northeast as well as taking a more southerly route in the west. The red dots are hotspots—temperature anomalies detected by the sensor—likely caused by fires. At the time MODIS acquired this picture, India's first biodiesel plant was beginning production, according to a report from The Times of India. The resulting "green" fuel, however, was planned for export to the United States and Europe. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?AERONET_Kanpur ] of this region. |
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Monsoon Flooding in India
| Title |
Monsoon Flooding in India |
| Description |
The Ganga (Ganges) River and its tributaries were swollen with late monsoon rains when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on October 1, 2005. Torrential rains pounded northern India and Nepal through much of the second half of September 2005. The subsequent floods and landslides killed dozens in the two countries combined. These two images show the progression of the floods through northern India. Though severe flooding occurred in Nepal, it is not visible in these images. The lower image shows the rivers on September 20, four days after the floods began. In the false-color images, water is dark blue, clouds are pale blue, and vegetation is bright green. On September 20, the upper reaches of the Ganga and Ramganga Rivers are flooded compared to their state on October 1. By October 1, the flood water had moved downstream, gathering at the convergence of the two rivers. The Sarda and Ghagra Rivers are also larger than they were ten days earlier. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Monsoon Flooding in India
| Title |
Monsoon Flooding in India |
| Description |
The Ganga (Ganges) River and its tributaries were swollen with late monsoon rains when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on October 1, 2005. Torrential rains pounded northern India and Nepal through much of the second half of September 2005. The subsequent floods and landslides killed dozens in the two countries combined. These two images show the progression of the floods through northern India. Though severe flooding occurred in Nepal, it is not visible in these images. The lower image shows the rivers on September 20, four days after the floods began. In the false-color images, water is dark blue, clouds are pale blue, and vegetation is bright green. On September 20, the upper reaches of the Ganga and Ramganga Rivers are flooded compared to their state on October 1. By October 1, the flood water had moved downstream, gathering at the convergence of the two rivers. The Sarda and Ghagra Rivers are also larger than they were ten days earlier. NASA images courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
After unusually heavy monsoon rains at the end of August 2006, devastating floods and landslides swept through the western half of the Himalayan country of Nepal. The floods were the worst in 40 years, according to reports collected by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2006sum.htm ] By September 3, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6TB3SM?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=FL-2006-000127-NPL ] reported that 45 had died and 973 families had been displaced. When the water flowed south into India's Uttar Pradesh state, more than 100,000 people were affected by floods, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. Though flooding was not visible in Nepal on August 30 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired the top image, rivers flowing across the border into India were swollen with the run-off. The Ghaghara River and its tributaries are wide blue ribbons against the bright green, plant-covered land. Their banks no longer clearly defined, the flooded rivers have a slightly messy appearance in the top image. Dark blue pools of water stretch web-like around the Ghaghara and its tributaries, indicating wide-spread flooding. The lower image, taken on August 16, shows the rivers before the floods. Tan areas are regions that had little or no vegetation. Clouds are light blue and white. The large images provided above are at MODIS' full resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006242 ] of northwestern India are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team in a variety of resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
After unusually heavy monsoon rains at the end of August 2006, devastating floods and landslides swept through the western half of the Himalayan country of Nepal. The floods were the worst in 40 years, according to reports collected by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2006sum.htm ] By September 3, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6TB3SM?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=FL-2006-000127-NPL ] reported that 45 had died and 973 families had been displaced. When the water flowed south into India's Uttar Pradesh state, more than 100,000 people were affected by floods, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. Though flooding was not visible in Nepal on August 30 when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired the top image, rivers flowing across the border into India were swollen with the run-off. The Ghaghara River and its tributaries are wide blue ribbons against the bright green, plant-covered land. Their banks no longer clearly defined, the flooded rivers have a slightly messy appearance in the top image. Dark blue pools of water stretch web-like around the Ghaghara and its tributaries, indicating wide-spread flooding. The lower image, taken on August 16, shows the rivers before the floods. Tan areas are regions that had little or no vegetation. Clouds are light blue and white. The large images provided above are at MODIS' full resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006242 ] of northwestern India are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team in a variety of resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
Within a single week, several major rivers in India's northern Bihar state burst their banks under the onslaught of additional heavy rain. Rivers flowing out of the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal along the top of the image had expanded to such a degree by September 27, 2006, that it's difficult to distinguish one from another in the top Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image. Already running high on September 20, when the lower image was taken, the Bagmati, Lakhandai, Sapt Kosi, and their tributaries are particularly flooded. The rivers flow south through Bihar and empty into the Ganges, the lower branches of which appeared flooded in an adjacent image. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13897 ] The southern tributaries of the Ganges shared a similar fate: The rivers form a large pool where they run parallel to the Ganges' southern bank along the bottom of the image. A Reuters report [ http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-09-27T175650Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-269576-1.xml ] issued on September 27 said that floods had killed 23 people in Bihar since September 20, and tens of thousands of additional people were homeless or stranded. Both images shown here were created from both visible and infrared light. This combination makes water, which might otherwise blend in with the landscape, appear dark blue or black, while the surrounding plant-covered land is bright green. Because they increase the contrast between water and land, the infrared and visible images are useful for tracking floods. Clouds are light blue and white, while non-vegetated land is tan. The top image was made with data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on the morning of September 27, while the lower image was made with data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on the afternoon of September 20, 2006. Both images are available in photo-like true color [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006270 ] from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Floods in Northern I
…
| Title |
Monsoon Floods in Northern India |
| Description |
Within a single week, several major rivers in India's northern Bihar state burst their banks under the onslaught of additional heavy rain. Rivers flowing out of the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal along the top of the image had expanded to such a degree by September 27, 2006, that it's difficult to distinguish one from another in the top Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image. Already running high on September 20, when the lower image was taken, the Bagmati, Lakhandai, Sapt Kosi, and their tributaries are particularly flooded. The rivers flow south through Bihar and empty into the Ganges, the lower branches of which appeared flooded in an adjacent image. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13897 ] The southern tributaries of the Ganges shared a similar fate: The rivers form a large pool where they run parallel to the Ganges' southern bank along the bottom of the image. A Reuters report [ http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-09-27T175650Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-269576-1.xml ] issued on September 27 said that floods had killed 23 people in Bihar since September 20, and tens of thousands of additional people were homeless or stranded. Both images shown here were created from both visible and infrared light. This combination makes water, which might otherwise blend in with the landscape, appear dark blue or black, while the surrounding plant-covered land is bright green. Because they increase the contrast between water and land, the infrared and visible images are useful for tracking floods. Clouds are light blue and white, while non-vegetated land is tan. The top image was made with data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on the morning of September 27, while the lower image was made with data collected by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on the afternoon of September 20, 2006. Both images are available in photo-like true color [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2006270 ] from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Monsoon Rains Flood East Asi
…
| Title |
Monsoon Rains Flood East Asia |
| Description |
The summer rainy season brought on by the summer monsoon has arrived over eastern Asia bringing with it seasonal flooding and torrential rains. Over the past few weeks, parts of Nepal, India and Bangladesh have been devastated by floods, but areas farther north have received their share of heavy rain too. China, Korea, and Japan have all suffered casualties recently as a result of flooding brought on by torrential rains. Over the past week, at least 17 people were lost due to flooding and mudslides in Japan. The situation is even worse in China as the death tolls have climbed into the hundreds so far this year. Hardest hit are southern, central and, more recently, eastern China particularly along the Huai River, which is at its highest level in over a decade. In November of 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (TRMM) satellite was launched in an effort to provide better estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. Since that time, TRMM has been providing unprecedented estimates of rainfall over the Tropics using its array of passive and active sensors. TRMM can cover vast areas of the Tropics where rainfall is poorly measured such as over oceans and land areas where radar coverage is poor or lacking. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides rainfall estimates over the global Tropics. MPA rainfall totals for July 12 through July 19, 2004, are shown for East Asia. A swath of 4 to 8 inch rainfall (green area) extends from central China across the Yellow Sea, South Korea, and the Sea of Japan and into central Japan. The highest totals are over eastern China in the Shandong, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces where between 12 and 20 inches (red area) of rain fell. Localized areas of over a foot of rain appear along parts of the southern and eastern coast of South Korea and over central Japan along the east coast of Honshu. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Monsoon Rains Flood East Asi
…
| Title |
Monsoon Rains Flood East Asia |
| Description |
The summer rainy season brought on by the summer monsoon has arrived over eastern Asia bringing with it seasonal flooding and torrential rains. Over the past few weeks, parts of Nepal, India and Bangladesh have been devastated by floods, but areas farther north have received their share of heavy rain too. China, Korea, and Japan have all suffered casualties recently as a result of flooding brought on by torrential rains. Over the past week, at least 17 people were lost due to flooding and mudslides in Japan. The situation is even worse in China as the death tolls have climbed into the hundreds so far this year. Hardest hit are southern, central and, more recently, eastern China particularly along the Huai River, which is at its highest level in over a decade. In November of 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] (TRMM) satellite was launched in an effort to provide better estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. Since that time, TRMM has been providing unprecedented estimates of rainfall over the Tropics using its array of passive and active sensors. TRMM can cover vast areas of the Tropics where rainfall is poorly measured such as over oceans and land areas where radar coverage is poor or lacking. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides rainfall estimates over the global Tropics. MPA rainfall totals for July 12 through July 19, 2004, are shown for East Asia. A swath of 4 to 8 inch rainfall (green area) extends from central China across the Yellow Sea, South Korea, and the Sea of Japan and into central Japan. The highest totals are over eastern China in the Shandong, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces where between 12 and 20 inches (red area) of rain fell. Localized areas of over a foot of rain appear along parts of the southern and eastern coast of South Korea and over central Japan along the east coast of Honshu. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Fires in Eastern India
| Title |
Fires in Eastern India |
| Description |
On March 5, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected fires (marked in red) in eastern India (bottom left), northeast India (top right), and western Myanmar (bottom right). A few scattered fires were detected in Bangladesh (center). In this false-color image of this scene, dark reddish burn scars stand out against bright green vegetation. A true-color image is also available. In Bangladesh, the Ganges River flows in from the west and meets up with the Brahmaputra River flowing in from the east. The two rivers join and flow out to the Bay of Bengal through the Mouths of the Ganges. At top are the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. 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 Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
|
Fires in Eastern India
| Title |
Fires in Eastern India |
| Description |
On March 5, 2003, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected fires (marked in red) in eastern India (bottom left), northeast India (top right), and western Myanmar (bottom right). A few scattered fires were detected in Bangladesh (center). In the false-color image of this scene, dark reddish burn scars stand out against bright green vegetation. In Bangladesh, the Ganges River flows in from the west and meets up with the Brahmaputra River flowing in from the east. The two rivers join and flow out to the Bay of Bengal through the Mouths of the Ganges. At top are the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal. 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 Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
|
Smog over Northern India
| Title |
Smog over Northern India |
| Description |
A pale band of haze hangs along the front of the Himalaya Mountains in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh in this photo-like image, taken on February 5, 2006, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. In this image, haze covers northern India, just south of the Himalaya. Haze also intrudes into the skies of southern Nepal and Bangladesh. The skies over the more mountainous northern Nepal and Bhutan appear clear. One source of the haze is the fires that burn throughout the region. These fires were probably deliberately set for agricultural purposes. Another source of the haze is India's cities. A megacity is an urban center with 10 million or more inhabitants. As of 2003, India held three of the world's megacities: Mumbai, Delhi, and Calcutta. Moreover, smaller cities dot the landscape, appearing in this image as beige splotches. One city, shown in the upper left, produces its own discernible plume of haze. It is common to see dense haze in northern India, Nepal, and Bangladesh during the winter. The haze lingers near the base of the mountains because of a temperature inversion. In normal conditions, the air near the ground is warmer than the air above it. Warm air rises and carries with it pollution from fires or cities. The pollution disperses when it is mixed with cooler air high above the ground. During the Himalayan winter, cold air rushes down the mountains onto the plain. This makes the air near the ground cooler than the air above it, essentially trapping a pocket of cold air over the plain. Smoke from fires and regular pollution from cities are also trapped in the pocket of cold air and don't disperse as they would under normal conditions. As a result, haze builds until the inversion lifts. The haze shown in this image had been accumulating for several days, and is visible in several other MODIS images, including one acquired on February 1, 2006 [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13341 ]. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
|
Southern Asia Heat Wave
| Title |
Southern Asia Heat Wave |
| Description |
A pre-monsoon heat wave left India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh baking for much of June 2005. The heat wave, which started at the end of May, has claimed more than 200 lives in India alone, according to news reports, and has also caused deaths in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The top surface temperature image, created from data gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite between May 25 and June 1, 2005, shows the start of the heat wave. Compared to images collected during the same time in 2004, there is less gradation between the hot plateaus of south Asia and the frigid peaks of the Himalaya. In 2005, searing heat, shown in yellow, spread across India?s northern plains and along the southern base of the Himalaya in Pakistan and Nepal. In agreement with this image, temperatures stayed between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius (104 ? 122 degrees F) for much of June. Monsoon rains starting on June 21 brought relief to some of the region. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science [ http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/ ], University of California, Santa Barbara |
|
Southern Asia Heat Wave
| Title |
Southern Asia Heat Wave |
| Description |
A pre-monsoon heat wave left India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh baking for much of June 2005. The heat wave, which started at the end of May, has claimed more than 200 lives in India alone, according to news reports, and has also caused deaths in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The top surface temperature image, created from data gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite between May 25 and June 1, 2005, shows the start of the heat wave. Compared to images collected during the same time in 2004, there is less gradation between the hot plateaus of south Asia and the frigid peaks of the Himalaya. In 2005, searing heat, shown in yellow, spread across India?s northern plains and along the southern base of the Himalaya in Pakistan and Nepal. In agreement with this image, temperatures stayed between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius (104 ? 122 degrees F) for much of June. Monsoon rains starting on June 21 brought relief to some of the region. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science [ http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/ ], University of California, Santa Barbara |
|
Southern Asia Heat Wave
| Title |
Southern Asia Heat Wave |
| Description |
A pre-monsoon heat wave left India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh baking for much of June 2005. The heat wave, which started at the end of May, has claimed more than 200 lives in India alone, according to news reports, and has also caused deaths in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The top surface temperature image, created from data gathered by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite between May 25 and June 1, 2005, shows the start of the heat wave. Compared to images collected during the same time in 2004, there is less gradation between the hot plateaus of south Asia and the frigid peaks of the Himalaya. In 2005, searing heat, shown in yellow, spread across India?s northern plains and along the southern base of the Himalaya in Pakistan and Nepal. In agreement with this image, temperatures stayed between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius (104 ? 122 degrees F) for much of June. Monsoon rains starting on June 21 brought relief to some of the region. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, Institute for Computational Earth System Science [ http://www.icess.ucsb.edu/ ], University of California, Santa Barbara |
|
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. Jekyll–Mr. 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 however—the monsoon may be wetter in a particular year or winter snows might be greater, leading to more snowmelt—and 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. |
|
Flooding in India and Bangla
…
| Title |
Flooding in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Just as the summer floods were starting to subside, September brought more rain to South Asia. The heavy monsoon rain pushed rivers in Northeast India, Nepal, and Bangladesh over their banks and forced more than a million people from their homes. These images show floods on the Sapt Kosi River in northern India. The river curves from Nepal across the Ganges Plain, where it eventually joins the Ganges River. Flowing from the Himalaya Mountains, the river is prone to flooding in the summer when snow melt combines with monsoon rains to increase the river's flow. It is one the the major tributaries of the Ganges River. The contrast between winter and spring's dry-season water levels and late-summer, rainy-season water levels is illustrated by this pair of images. The left image was taken on September 11, 2007, after several days of heavy rain. The right image is from May 22, 2007, just before the summer monsoon started. In September, the river was several kilometers wider than it had been in late May. The water is light blue, an indication that it is muddy. Though the river was widest in India, it was also swollen in Nepal. In the days that preceded September 11, heavy rains triggered floods and landslides along rivers throughout Nepal, leaving at least 15 dead, reported the Agence France-Presse [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SODA-76W4RF?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=FL-2007-000129-PAK ] on September 9. Along the bottom of the image, the Ganges River was also fuller than it had been earlier in the year. Additional flooding on the Ganges and its tributaries can be seen in the large images, which show a wider view of the Ganges Plain. The images were both captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite and were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. In this type of image, water is black, though sediment can color the water blue. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare earth or sparsely vegetated land is tan. Clouds are light blue and white. A photo-like [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2007254 ] version of the images is available from the MODIS Rapid Response System, which provides daily images of northern India. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
|
Flooding in India and Bangla
…
| Title |
Flooding in India and Bangladesh |
| Description |
Just as the summer floods were starting to subside, September brought more rain to South Asia. The heavy monsoon rain pushed rivers in Northeast India, Nepal, and Bangladesh over their banks and forced more than a million people from their homes. These images show floods on the Sapt Kosi River in northern India. The river curves from Nepal across the Ganges Plain, where it eventually joins the Ganges River. Flowing from the Himalaya Mountains, the river is prone to flooding in the summer when snow melt combines with monsoon rains to increase the river's flow. It is one the the major tributaries of the Ganges River. The contrast between winter and spring's dry-season water levels and late-summer, rainy-season water levels is illustrated by this pair of images. The left image was taken on September 11, 2007, after several days of heavy rain. The right image is from May 22, 2007, just before the summer monsoon started. In September, the river was several kilometers wider than it had been in late May. The water is light blue, an indication that it is muddy. Though the river was widest in India, it was also swollen in Nepal. In the days that preceded September 11, heavy rains triggered floods and landslides along rivers throughout Nepal, leaving at least 15 dead, reported the Agence France-Presse [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/SODA-76W4RF?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=FL-2007-000129-PAK ] on September 9. Along the bottom of the image, the Ganges River was also fuller than it had been earlier in the year. Additional flooding on the Ganges and its tributaries can be seen in the large images, which show a wider view of the Ganges Plain. The images were both captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite and were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. In this type of image, water is black, though sediment can color the water blue. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare earth or sparsely vegetated land is tan. Clouds are light blue and white. A photo-like [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_India3/2007254 ] version of the images is available from the MODIS Rapid Response System, which provides daily images of northern India. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
|
Tropical Storm brings Heavy
…
| Title |
Tropical Storm brings Heavy Rains to Burma |
| Description |
Unnamed tropical storm 02B came ashore along the northwest coast of Burma (Myanmar) on the 19th of May 2004 bringing with it strong winds and heavy rains. The system formed in the northern Bay of Bengal on May 17, and moved east as a strong tropical storm with maximum sustained winds estimated at 60 knots (69 mph) by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center as it crossed the coast of Burma. The system came ashore near the port city of Sittwe not far from the border with Bangladesh. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals for the region surrounding the northern Bay of Bengal are shown for the period 12-19 May 2004. Up to 20 inches of rain (darkest red areas) fell over the foothills and southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains over northeastern Indian and Bhutan and along the north east coastline of the Bay of Bengal over far western Burma and southern Bangladesh. The heavy rain over western Burma and southern Bangladesh was a direct result of tropical storm 02B, while most of the heavy rain farther north along the slopes of the Himalayas was a result of low pressure centered over northern India and Nepal drawing moisture up from the Bay of Bengal earlier in the period. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
|
Tropical Storm brings Heavy
…
| Title |
Tropical Storm brings Heavy Rains to Burma |
| Description |
Unnamed tropical storm 02B came ashore along the northwest coast of Burma (Myanmar) on the 19th of May 2004 bringing with it strong winds and heavy rains. The system formed in the northern Bay of Bengal on May 17, and moved east as a strong tropical storm with maximum sustained winds estimated at 60 knots (69 mph) by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center as it crossed the coast of Burma. The system came ashore near the port city of Sittwe not far from the border with Bangladesh. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. MPA rainfall totals for the region surrounding the northern Bay of Bengal are shown for the period 12-19 May 2004. Up to 20 inches of rain (darkest red areas) fell over the foothills and southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains over northeastern Indian and Bhutan and along the north east coastline of the Bay of Bengal over far western Burma and southern Bangladesh. The heavy rain over western Burma and southern Bangladesh was a direct result of tropical storm 02B, while most of the heavy rain farther north along the slopes of the Himalayas was a result of low pressure centered over northern India and Nepal drawing moisture up from the Bay of Bengal earlier in the period. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
|
Floods in Bangladesh
| Title |
Floods in Bangladesh |
| Description |
A large portion of Bangladesh was awash with floods when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on August 3, 2007. The low-lying nation is an alluvial delta, and therefore, is extremely prone to flooding. In July 2007, heavy monsoon rains filled the Brahmaputra, Padma, and Meghna Rivers, leading to the floods shown here. The Jamuna, a branch of the Brahmaputra River, arcs through the center of the scene, its braided waterways woven into a single thread where the river is overflowing. A branch of the Jamuna flows east into the Meghna River. The wetlands that surround these rivers are full of water, and the rivers themselves are swollen. The Padma River, formed by the convergence of the Ganges and Jamuna Rivers, is also flooded. The severity of the floods can be seen in the contrast between the top image and the lower image, which was taken on May 1, 2007, before the monsoon rains began. In the dry season, the course of each river is clearly defined, not blurred by excess water. The images were made with infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and earth. In this type of image, water is black or blue, where colored with sediment. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare earth or lightly vegetated areas are tan. Light blue and white clouds dot the scene. In the lower image, red dots mark the location of fires. The floods shown here stranded hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated nations, reported BBC News. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927389.stm ] As of August 3, nearly 20 million people had been displaced by monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, added BBC. Some of the floods in northeastern India [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14429 ] were visible when Aqua MODIS flew over on August 3. The intense rains of the summer monsoon typically fall between June and October, so additional flooding is likely.Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2007215 ] of Bangladesh 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 |
A large portion of Bangladesh was awash with floods when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on August 3, 2007. The low-lying nation is an alluvial delta, and therefore, is extremely prone to flooding. In July 2007, heavy monsoon rains filled the Brahmaputra, Padma, and Meghna Rivers, leading to the floods shown here. The Jamuna, a branch of the Brahmaputra River, arcs through the center of the scene, its braided waterways woven into a single thread where the river is overflowing. A branch of the Jamuna flows east into the Meghna River. The wetlands that surround these rivers are full of water, and the rivers themselves are swollen. The Padma River, formed by the convergence of the Ganges and Jamuna Rivers, is also flooded. The severity of the floods can be seen in the contrast between the top image and the lower image, which was taken on May 1, 2007, before the monsoon rains began. In the dry season, the course of each river is clearly defined, not blurred by excess water. The images were made with infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and earth. In this type of image, water is black or blue, where colored with sediment. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare earth or lightly vegetated areas are tan. Light blue and white clouds dot the scene. In the lower image, red dots mark the location of fires. The floods shown here stranded hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated nations, reported BBC News. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6927389.stm ] As of August 3, nearly 20 million people had been displaced by monsoon flooding in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, added BBC. Some of the floods in northeastern India [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14429 ] were visible when Aqua MODIS flew over on August 3. The intense rains of the summer monsoon typically fall between June and October, so additional flooding is likely.Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Bangladesh/2007215 ] of Bangladesh 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 and Ind
…
| Title |
Floods In Bangladesh and India |
| Description |
*Floods In Bangladesh and India* For the past month heavy monsoon rains have led to massive flooding in eastern India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, which have killed over 500 people and left millions homeless. This false-color image acquired on August 5, 2002, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA?s Terra spacecraft shows the extent of this flooding. In the upper right-hand corner of the image, the swollen Brahmaputra River runs east to west through the Indian state of Assam. Normally, the river and its tributaries would resemble a tangle of thin lines. Moving to the upper left-hand corner, flooding can be seen along the Ganges River in the state of Bihar, India. Both of these rivers flow into Bangladesh along with many others from India and Nepal. Heavy monsoon rains from all across the region have inundated the small country with water this year. Floodwaters have all but covered northeastern Bangladesh, which is usually dry. The Jamuna River, which runs down the center of the country off of the Brahmaputra River, now resembles a narrow lake. Millions of dollars in crops have been destroyed and thousands have been left stranded in their villages or on rafts. Forecasters are warning that flooding could get worse. In this false-color image, land is green, and water is black and dark brown. Clouds appear pink, red and white. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. |
|
Himalayan Horizon From Space
| Title |
Himalayan Horizon From Space |
| Explanation |
This stunning aerial view [ http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?7837 ] shows the rugged snow covered peaks of [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/education/Everest/ ] a Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The seventh-highest peak on the planet [ http://www.math.ufl.edu/~metzler/Frame/ Outdoor/Data/asia.html ], Dhaulagiri, is the high point on the horizon at the left while in the foreground lies the southern Tibetan Plateau of China. But, contrary to appearances, this picture wasn't taken from an airliner [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010129.html ] cruising at 30,000 feet. Instead it was taken with a 35mm camera and telephoto lens by the Expedition 1 crew [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp1/ index.html ] aboard the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011012.html ] -- orbiting 200 nautical miles [ http://www.seewise.com/or/faqtxt/a3.html ] above the Earth. The Himalayan mountains [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/ images.php3?img_id=4704 ] were created by crustal plate tectonics [ http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/ dynamic.html ] on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001002.html ] some 70 million years ago, as the Indian plate began a collision with the Eurasian plate. Himalayan uplift still continues today at a rate of a few millimeters per year. |
|
The View from Everest
| Title |
The View from Everest |
| Explanation |
What would it be like to stand atop [ http://www.princeton.edu/~acfraker/everest.html ] the tallest mountain on Earth? To see a full panoramic vista from there, scroll right. Visible [ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/climb/summitstill.html ] are snow peaked mountains near and far, tremendous cliffs, distant plateaus, the tops of clouds, and a dark blue sky. Mt. Everest [ http://www.mnteverest.com/history.html ] stands 8.85 kilometers above sea level, roughly the maximum height reached by international airplane [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030504.html ] flights, but much less than the 300 kilometers achieved by a space shuttle [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030105.html ]. Hundreds of people have tried and failed to climb the behemoth [ http://www.highalpex.com/Peaklist/peaklist.html ] by foot, a feat first accomplished successfully [ http://teacher.scholastic.com/hillary/ ] in 1953. About 1000 people have now made it [ http://classic.mountainzone.com/everest/99/north/faq.html ] to the summit. Roddy Mackenzie, who climbed the mountain in 1989, captured the above image [ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/climb/summitstill.html ]. Mt. Everest lies in the Himalayan mountains [ http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/Him.Range%20Pix.html ] in the country of Nepal [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/np.html ]. In the native language [ http://www.mnteverest.net/nepali.htm ] of Nepal, the mountain's name is "Sagarmatha" which means [ http://www.mnteverest.com/history.html ]"forehead of the sky." |
|
Himalayan Horizon From Space
| Title |
Himalayan Horizon From Space |
| Explanation |
This stunning aerial view [ http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?7837 ] shows the rugged snow covered peaks of [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/education/Everest/ ] a Himalayan mountain range in Nepal. The seventh-highest peak on the planet [ http://www.math.ufl.edu/~metzler/Frame/ Outdoor/Data/asia.html ], Dhaulagiri, is the high point on the horizon at the left while in the foreground lies the southern Tibetan Plateau of China. But, contrary to appearances, this picture wasn't taken from an airliner [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050513.html ] cruising at 30,000 feet. Instead it was taken with a 35mm camera and telephoto lens by the Expedition 1 crew [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp1/ index.html ] aboard the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap011012.html ] -- orbiting 200 nautical miles [ http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_07.htm ] above the Earth. The Himalayan mountains [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/ images.php3?img_id=4704 ] were created by crustal plate tectonics [ http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/ dynamic.html ] on planet Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001002.html ] some 70 million years ago, as the Indian plate began a collision with the Eurasian plate. Himalayan uplift still continues today at a rate of a few millimeters per year. |
|
Haze over India: Natural Haz
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Haze collected over northern
…
india_amo_2007288
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-10-15 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
india_amo_2007288 |
|
Floods in India and Banglade
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
India_TRMM2004194
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-07-12 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
| identifier |
India_TRMM2004194 |
|
Floods in Bangladesh: Natura
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Bangladesh_AMO_2007215
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-08-03 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh_AMO_2007215 |
|
Fires in Eastern India: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On March 5, 2003, the modis.
…
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064.721
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-03-05 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064.721 |
|
Haze and Sediment in Banglad
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
More haze hugged the Himalay
…
ge_17934
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-01-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
ge_17934 |
|
Elevation Map of Kathmandu,
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
These Shuttle Radar Topgraph
…
kathmandu_pair
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2001 |
| creator |
NASA -- Image courtesy www.dfd.dlr.de/ German Remote Sensing Data Center |
| identifier |
kathmandu_pair |
|
Earth observations taken fro
…
johnsonspacecentermediaarchi
…
Earth observation views take
…
STS080-733-092
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
1996-11-30 |
| creator |
NASA |
| identifier |
STS080-733-092 |
|
Southern Asia Heat Wave: Ima
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
nindia_tmolst_25may05
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2005-06-01 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from Zhengming Wan, MODIS Land Surface Temperature Group, www.icess.ucsb.edu/ Institute for Computational Earth System Science , University of California, Santa Barbara |
| identifier |
nindia_tmolst_25may05 |
|
Flooding in India and Bangla
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
SaptKosi_TMO_2007254
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-11 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
SaptKosi_TMO_2007254 |
|
Fires in Eastern India: Natu
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
On March 5, 2003, the modis.
…
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2003-03-05 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Bangladesh.AMOA2003064 |
|
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 |
|
Floods in Pakistan: Natural
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
indus_amo_10jul05
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
July 10, 2005 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
indus_amo_10jul05 |
|
Tropical Storm brings Heavy
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Unnamed tropical storm 02B c
…
bangladesh_rain_TRMM2004140
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2004-05-19 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
bangladesh_rain_TRMM2004140 |
|
|
