large images:
September 18, 2000
February 3, 2002
Whether you look at the glass as half empty or half full, reservoirs at 52percent of capacity for a major metropolitan area spell trouble.
On March 26, 2002, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared a drought emergencyfor the city and four upstate counties in response to the worst drought to hitthe eastern United States in nearly 70 years. Restrictions on water use willaffect more than 8 million residents of New York. Further evidence of theextent of New York’s current drought emergency can be seen in new images takenby the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)on NASA’s Terra satellite.
The ASTER image pair depicts a 215-square-kilometer (80-square-mile) areaaround Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains, one of several Catskillreservoirs that supply water to the New York City metropolitan area. Theimages, taken September 18, 2000, and February 3, 2002, show a dramatic decreasein reservoir water level to the current 52 percent of capacity.
References & Resources
Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
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