April 23, 2016 - Prince Edward Island, Canada

Prince Edward Island, Canada

The boat-shaped Prince Edward Island, Canada has been called the "Garden of the Gulf" in honor of its rich soil and productive farmland which produces about 25 percent of Canada's annual potato crop. Indeed, the fertility of the sienna-colored soil is so important to the economy that during spring planting time the country celebrations National Soil Conservation week - a week of concerted effort to bring awareness of beneficial soil practices, such as strip cropping, winter cover cropping, residue management, farmable berms, hay mulching, low-till or no-till farming practices, and retirement of sensitive land, to farmers and residents alike. Such best-practices helps maintain the upper layer of topsoil intact, increases productivity of the land, increases quality of the product, and helps protect the waterways from runoff.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite flew over Prince Edward Island on April 20, 2016, and captured this true-color image as the country was in the middle of their thirtieth annual celebration of Soil Conservation Week, which runs from April 17 to April 23 this year.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 4/20/2016
Resolutions: 1km (28.7 KB), 500m (73.1 KB), 250m (145 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC