Extremely heavy rains fell at the end of February 2012 in the northern Algerian province of El Tarf, near the Tunisian border. The rainfall total was the greatest recorded in the last 30 years. The Seybouse River overflowed its banks, submerging adjacent villages. Overflow from the Bougous, Mexa and Cheffia dams added to the misery. In this image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, acquired March 1, 2012, vegetation is shown in red and water is depicted as black to turquoise, depending on how much sediment it contains. The image is located at 36.7 degrees north latitude and 8.3 degrees east longitude. It covers an area of 22 by 37.2 miles (34 by 60 kilometers).
With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on Terra. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
No comments:
Post a Comment