NASA MODIS Image of the Day: February 16, 2007 – Floods in Australia
A fresh round of rain over Australia’s Channel Country brought a resurgence of floods, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on February 10, 2007. Heavy rains filled the creeks and channels of southwestern Queensland and northeastern South Australia at the end of January, but those floods had started to recede when another storm brought additional moisture on February 9 and 10. The new floods cut off the town of Birdsville near the Queensland-South Australia border for the second time in 2007, reported ABC News.
The mud-laden flood water colored the landscape a brilliant blue on February 12, when the MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image. This type of image, made with both visible and infrared light, typically displays water as dark blue or black. In this case, the water contains light-scattering dirt, which gives it the turquoise color seen here. The barren desert landscape is tan and pink, while vegetation is green. If you run your mouse over the image, you will see a second image, provided to show the region before the floods started. This second image was taken on January 9, 2007.
