NASA MODIS Image of the Day: October 23, 2011 – Fall colors in southeastern United States
Late in October, 2011, the annual march of brilliant fall foliage across North American had begun to fade in the north, while much of the southeastern United States enjoyed spectacular peak coloration.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on October 16, 2011.
Travelling from north to south then west to east the states in this image are: West Virginia, (top center) Kentucky (west), Virginia (east), Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The Appalachian Mountain chain crosses the image from northeast to southwest colored with oranges and reds in the forested areas and light green in the valleys. The most brilliant color is found in the western North Carolina, in a large swath of forest near Asheville. The city can be seen as a gray smudge at the center of several gray roads. Within 50 miles of Asheville, the Blue Ridge Mountains rise about 5,000 feet, and the trees here put on one of the longest-running leaf displays in the country. At the time this image was captured, the leaf color in the highest elevations had begun to pass peak, while middle elevations (2,000 – 4,000 feet) were richly colored. By October 21, according to local travel guides, the valleys were well-colored as well. The display of autumn color in this region is reported to be the best experienced in several years.
