NASA MODIS Image of the Day: July 7, 2011 – Flooding Spreads along the Missouri River
Floods continued spreading southward along the Missouri River in early July 2011.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the top image on July 4, 2011.
Rolling the cursor over that image reveals an image captured eleven days earlier, on June 23. Both images are false-color images, and use a combination of visible and infrared light to increase contrast between water and land. In this color scheme, water appears dark navy blue and clouds are bright blue-green. Depending on the type of land cover, land ranges in color from green to brown. Both images show flooded conditions along parts of the Missouri River, but the image from early July shows more widespread flooding. In the northwest section of the images, the Platte River joins into the north-to-south oriented Missouri River in northern Nebraska. In the July image, just south of this confluence, the Missouri can be seen sprawling far over the banks near Nebraska City, Brownville and Rulo. Flooding can also be seen spreading southward into Missouri and Kansas. On July 5, 2011, the Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) of the U.S. National Weather Service reported moderate flooding near the Nebraskan communities of Nebraska City and Brownville, and major flooding at Plattsmouth and Rulo. The AHPS also reported major flooding in St. Joseph, Missouri, and moderate flooding in Leavenworth, Kansas. Flood-level readings were not available in Atchison, Kansas, which was awaiting gauge repair.
