Floods advanced down the Missouri River at the end of June 2011, swelling the river significantly from Sioux City, Iowa, to Leavenworth, Kansas. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the top image on June 30, 2011. For comparison, the bottom image shows the same area a year earlier, on June 29, 2010.
Both images use a combination of visible and infrared light to increase contrast between water and land. Water is navy blue. Depending on land cover, land ranges in color from green to brown. Clouds are blue-green. These images have been rotated, and north is at right.
On July 1, 2011, the Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) of the U.S. National Weather Service reported moderate flooding at Sioux City, Iowa, and in or near the Nebraskan communities of Decatur, Blair, Omaha, Nebraska City, and Brownville. The AHPS reported major flooding at Plattsmouth and Rulo, Nebraska; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Atchison and Leavenworth, Kansas.
NASA images courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
