- October 5, 2005 (5.0 MB)
- September 12, 2005 (4.5 MB)
Clear skies were a rarity in Romania and Bulgaria during the summer of 2005. For the latter half of September alone, ground station data collected by the World Meteorological Organization show that the two countries received more than 200 percent their normal rainfall. Rainfall totals were well above average throughout most of the spring and summer. Under this deluge, severe floods afflicted the two countries at various times between March and October. In late September and early October, the most serious floods were along the border between the two nations and along the Black Sea coast. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the top image of the flooding on October 5, 2005. The lower image, taken on September 12, 2005, shows conditions before the heavy rainfall of late September.
In these false-color images, water is dark blue or black, vegetation is green, and bare earth is red or tan. On October 5, the northern banks of the Danube River were black, showing where water stood over the land. The Arges, Calentina, and Ialomita Rivers are also flooded compared to early September. In the three weeks that passed between September 12 and October 5, much of the agricultural land had been harvested. The landscape was predominantly green in September, but by October, red earth replaced green fields. The rainfall delayed the harvest, but according to the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service, the harvest was poised to be a large one as summer crops flourished in the extra rain.
Daily images of Romania and Bulgaria are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team.
References & Resources
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.
