June 30, 2016 - Northwestern Madagascar

Northwestern Madagascar

The island of Madagascar has long evoked images of amazing animals, exotic plants, and awesome adventures, or, as one travel website puts it: "lemurs, baobabs - and trekking!" Similar in size to France, Madagascar is said to be home to five percent of the world's plant and animal species, with eighty percent endemic to the island.

On June 27, 2016, NASA's Terra satellite flew over Madagascar, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard to capture a true-color image of Northwestern Madagascar in the early dry season.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the dry, deciduous forests of Northwestern Madagascar are some of the world's richest and distinctive tropical dry forests and have high biological importance. While species diversity is not as high as in the eastern portions of the island, plant endemism is very high. This region also contains spectacular limestone karst formations, known as tsingy. The dry climate as well as the unique tsingy formations with hot, exposed rock are drivers of plant adaptation, helping create the high number of unique species found here.

Several reserves are located in Northwestern Madagascar. The Kasijy Reserve preserves over 24,000 hectares of dry forest and wetlands and is home to 67 bird species, 22 reptiles, 6 frogs, and 16 species of mammals, including seven species of lemur. Like many reserves in Madagascar, Kasijy has few tourist services. It was established in 1956. The Kasijy Reserve can be seen near the center of the image, and is unique in that it appears, from space, like a green tadpole swimming through a more arid, tan landscape.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/27/2016
Resolutions: 1km (58.5 KB), 500m (175.7 KB), 250m (428.2 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC