Images
November 28, 2024 - Southern Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta
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Southern Louisiana appeared as a complex patchwork of greens, grays, and muddy tan tones in this true-color image acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on November 21, 2024.
The mud-colored Mississippi River winds through the center of the scene, flanked by light green patches that mark agricultural land and gray pixels that represent human-made structures. The Mississippi flows past sediment-filled Lake Pontchartrain and the city of New Orleans before flowing through the long Mississippi Delta which juts far out into the Gulf of Mexico. Sediment pours from Mississippi River and surrounds the Delta. Following the coastline to the west, sediment also spills from another, smaller delta. This is the delta of the Atchafalaya River, which is a distributary of the Mississippi. The dark green land in this image is mostly thickly vegetated wetlands.
Louisiana was first admitted into the United States in 1812. It brought value to the union as a state awash in vast fertile plains useful for agriculture along with bayous, marshes, and swamp lands that provided habitat for hunting and fishing. In addition, the Mississippi River provided a vital trade route that allowed transport of goods from the interior of the continent to the Gulf of Mexico. As time progressed, the interwoven riches of this land became even more complex with the discovery of large stores of petroleum and natural gas underlying the biodiverse and sensitive swamps and the farmlands.
Drilling, farming, fishing, hunting, tourism, an increasing population, and climate-driven changes all impact Southern Louisiana’s delicate ecosystems and way of life. The low-lying nature of the landscape leaves the region especially vulnerable to sea level rise, subsidence, hurricane damage, and saltwater intrusion.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 11/21/2024
Resolutions:
1km (103.7 KB), 500m (276.2 KB), 250m (479.4 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Southern Louisiana appeared as a complex patchwork of greens, grays, and muddy tan tones in this true-color image acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on November 21, 2024.
The mud-colored Mississippi River winds through the center of the scene, flanked by light green patches that mark agricultural land and gray pixels that represent human-made structures. The Mississippi flows past sediment-filled Lake Pontchartrain and the city of New Orleans before flowing through the long Mississippi Delta which juts far out into the Gulf of Mexico. Sediment pours from Mississippi River and surrounds the Delta. Following the coastline to the west, sediment also spills from another, smaller delta. This is the delta of the Atchafalaya River, which is a distributary of the Mississippi. The dark green land in this image is mostly thickly vegetated wetlands.
Louisiana was first admitted into the United States in 1812. It brought value to the union as a state awash in vast fertile plains useful for agriculture along with bayous, marshes, and swamp lands that provided habitat for hunting and fishing. In addition, the Mississippi River provided a vital trade route that allowed transport of goods from the interior of the continent to the Gulf of Mexico. As time progressed, the interwoven riches of this land became even more complex with the discovery of large stores of petroleum and natural gas underlying the biodiverse and sensitive swamps and the farmlands.
Drilling, farming, fishing, hunting, tourism, an increasing population, and climate-driven changes all impact Southern Louisiana’s delicate ecosystems and way of life. The low-lying nature of the landscape leaves the region especially vulnerable to sea level rise, subsidence, hurricane damage, and saltwater intrusion.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 11/21/2024
Resolutions:
1km (103.7 KB), 500m (276.2 KB), 250m (479.4 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
