October 30, 2020 - Sierra Madre Oriental

Sierra Madre Oriental

The rugged folds and valleys captured on October 28, 2020, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite are part of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range. These mountains run along the eastern side of the Mexican Plateau and are formed of folded shales and limestone. This desolate landscape sits on the border between the Coahuila and Nuevo Leon provinces of Mexico.

Two cities sit within this image, both at the in the southeast (lower left). The smaller cluster of gray pixels is Saltillo, the capital and largest city in Coahuila. The larger collection of gray pixels sitting east of Saltillo is Monterrey, the capital and largest city of Nuevo Leon. Monterrey is home to about 4.8 million people while about 984,000 souls reside in Saltillo.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/28/2020
Resolutions: 1km (47.9 KB), 500m (164.7 KB), 250m (489.2 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC