California's severe drought has been particularly devastating to farmers in the Central Valley. Three consecutive years of below-normal rainfall have resulted in the most serious drought emergency in decades. Because California leads the nation in agricultural production and exports, the cost of food, including dairy products and meat, is increasing. Over an area southwest of Sacramento, the effect can be clearly seen in these two February images acquired in 2014 and 2003 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Vegetation is depicted in shades of red, while barren fields are dark brown and gray. The left image was acquired on February 11, 2014 by Landsat 8, and the right image was acquired 11 years earlier, on February 8, 2003. The great increase of barren fields, and the bare hills in the southwest corner, are readily apparent. The images cover an area of 7.4 by 13.5 miles (12 by 21.7 kilometers), and are located at 38.9 degrees north, 121.8 degrees west.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
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