January 18, 2004
Heavy rains starting on January 12, 2004, brought widespread flooding to Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Though high rivers have isolated towns and destroyed livestock, the water is a welcome relief after years of drought in the region. The waters have caused more than $20 million in damage to roads in Queensland, and sections of New South Wales have been declared natural disaster zones. But despite this, damage has been minimal. The floods are a normal part of the wet season, and, according to news reports, most locals say they are pleased to see the rains return.
These Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images show how much water recent storms have brought to Northeastern Australia. Rivers that were barely visible on January 9, 2004, show up as large blue streaks in an image acquired on January 18, 2004. A few light blue clouds cover portions of both images. Bare soil is light pink and vegetation appears bright green in these false color images. Both images were acquired by the Terra satellite.The high resolution image of the flood scene provided above has a resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions, including MODIS’ maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The pre-flood scene is also available in additional resolutions.References & Resources
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
