Images
May 23, 2024 - The Brimming Barkly Lakes
May 22, 2024
May 23, 2023
Tweet
The rolling grassy plains of the Barkly Tableland cover roughly fifteen percent of Northern Territory, Australia. While the semi-arid savanna, which is rich in Mitchell Grass, makes excellent pastureland, the region is also dotted with several ephemeral saline lakes. When the weather is hot and dry, the Barkly lakes shrivel to nearly nothing, leaving behind a white crust of minerals. A series of strong rains, however, can fill the lakes to overflowing.
A string of several poor wet seasons set the stage for a severe fire season in 2023. Despite a burst of strong rains that helped fill the lakes in March 2023, several large blazes scorched the region through late September 2023, until doused by diligent firefighting and the onset of the rains.
The ensuing 2023-2024 wet season across the Barkly was exceptional, with near-record rainfall. The passage of remnants of Tropical Cyclone Megan in mid-March topped off the season with nearly a week of drenching rain. By mid-April, the lakes of the Barkly region were filled well beyond their brims, creating a spectacular corridor of waterways across the more rugged regions of the Barkly.
On May 22, 2024, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the Barkly lakes. Lake Woods is located in the far west, just at the edge of the Barkly Tableland. Tarrabool Lake and its surrounding swamplands is in the middle and because the lakes are fully inundated, connects widely to the saline Lake Sylvester (in the east).
To better understand the change in the lakes due to this year’s rains, click on the dates under the image to reveal a second Terra MODIS true-color image acquired of the same area on May 23, 2023. This image shows a much more typical view of the Barkly lakes.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Date Acquired: 5/22/2024
Resolutions:
1km (87.3 KB), 500m (228.8 KB), 250m (458.4 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
May 22, 2024 May 23, 2023
The rolling grassy plains of the Barkly Tableland cover roughly fifteen percent of Northern Territory, Australia. While the semi-arid savanna, which is rich in Mitchell Grass, makes excellent pastureland, the region is also dotted with several ephemeral saline lakes. When the weather is hot and dry, the Barkly lakes shrivel to nearly nothing, leaving behind a white crust of minerals. A series of strong rains, however, can fill the lakes to overflowing.
A string of several poor wet seasons set the stage for a severe fire season in 2023. Despite a burst of strong rains that helped fill the lakes in March 2023, several large blazes scorched the region through late September 2023, until doused by diligent firefighting and the onset of the rains.
The ensuing 2023-2024 wet season across the Barkly was exceptional, with near-record rainfall. The passage of remnants of Tropical Cyclone Megan in mid-March topped off the season with nearly a week of drenching rain. By mid-April, the lakes of the Barkly region were filled well beyond their brims, creating a spectacular corridor of waterways across the more rugged regions of the Barkly.
On May 22, 2024, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the Barkly lakes. Lake Woods is located in the far west, just at the edge of the Barkly Tableland. Tarrabool Lake and its surrounding swamplands is in the middle and because the lakes are fully inundated, connects widely to the saline Lake Sylvester (in the east).
To better understand the change in the lakes due to this year’s rains, click on the dates under the image to reveal a second Terra MODIS true-color image acquired of the same area on May 23, 2023. This image shows a much more typical view of the Barkly lakes.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Date Acquired: 5/22/2024
Resolutions:
1km (87.3 KB), 500m (228.8 KB), 250m (458.4 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
