NASA MODIS Image of the Day: June 11, 2008 – Lake Winnipegosis and Manitoba
This image, captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on May 28, 2008 shows Lakes Winnipegosis (top) and Manitoba (bottom), located in Manitoba, Canada.
Both lakes lie west of the larger Lake Winnipeg (top right corner).
The name of Lake Winnipegosis is actually a diminuative of “Winnipeg”, Winnipeg meaning “murky waters” in the Cree language. Interesting, Lake Manitoba actually contains a large island with a lake in it, and in that lake, are also a few islands. All three lakes lay in the bed of what used to be an enormous glacial lake, called “Lake Agassiz”. Agassiz was formed by glacial runoff at the end of the last ice age – at its largest it may have covered an area larger than all of the Great Lakes combined. Though the massive lake has since drained, it left Lake Winnipeg and the other smaller lakes behind. The former lake bed does make for fertile farmland. Agricultural fields between the large and smaller lakes lgive the landscape a tan and green mottled appearance. In the large images, square grids of farmland may even be visible.
