October 30, 2022 - Fall Colors in the Appalachian Mountains

Colors

Fall colors were on full display when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired a true-color image centered on the Appalachian Mountains on October 27, 2022. The scene stretches from the Chesapeake Bay westward to the agricultural fields of Ohio, with the folded mountains in between.

Although the colors of the autumn leaves don’t appear as brilliant red, orange, and yellow from space as they do from the ground, the dramatic change in color is still obvious. The cool temperatures of fall and shortening day length has burnished the high elevations in a coppery-red tint, while the valleys are washed in greenish-yellow and tans of fallow fields all along the Appalachian Mountains. This includes the ridges across West Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, and the Allegheny Range in south-central Pennsylvania. The agricultural-dominated flatter lands both to the east and west are also painted in the shades of green, gold, and tan of crop stubble, drying vegetation, and harvested fields.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/27/2022
Resolutions: 1km (635.5 KB), 500m (1.6 MB), 250m (3.8 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC