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March 2, 2020 - Green Vegetation Blooms in Queensland, Australia
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Eastern Australia’s recent weather can be summed up in one word: extreme. The closing months of 2019 saw record-breaking temperatures, long-standing drought, and devastating wildfires across much of the country, especially in the southeast. Scorching heat switched almost instantaneously to drenching rains in early February, 2020. By mid-February more rain had fallen in parts of Queensland than fell in those areas in all of 2019. Precipitation—and lots of it— continued to through the month, thanks to Tropical Cyclone Uesi’s skim just off the coast on February 13-14 and Tropical Cyclone Esther, which crossed into northern Queensland on February 24. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), during the week ending February 25 rainfall totals in excess of 200 mm (7.9 in) were recorded in pockets of Queensland’s east coast and southern inland Queensland, with the highest weekly total of 431 mm (art17 in) measured on the central Queensland coast.
The extreme rains brought widespread flooding, but also a few perks. Several large wildfires were doused outright, while cooler, wet weather aided firefighters as they fought other fires. The precipitation brought welcome relief to some areas that had been in drought for three to five years, raising water levels in the reservoirs and rivers and improving soil moisture. By late February, many previously-parched areas had begun to green up.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra acquired a true-color image of southeastern Queensland on February 28. The entire region wears a flush of green, marking freshly growing vegetation which has been given life thanks to the recent rains. The NASA Worldview App allows a comparison of this same area on December 31, 2019 and February 28, 2020, click HERE.
The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data accessible and freely available to the public.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/28/2020
Resolutions:
1km (593.6 KB), 500m (1.4 MB), 250m (1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Eastern Australia’s recent weather can be summed up in one word: extreme. The closing months of 2019 saw record-breaking temperatures, long-standing drought, and devastating wildfires across much of the country, especially in the southeast. Scorching heat switched almost instantaneously to drenching rains in early February, 2020. By mid-February more rain had fallen in parts of Queensland than fell in those areas in all of 2019. Precipitation—and lots of it— continued to through the month, thanks to Tropical Cyclone Uesi’s skim just off the coast on February 13-14 and Tropical Cyclone Esther, which crossed into northern Queensland on February 24. According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), during the week ending February 25 rainfall totals in excess of 200 mm (7.9 in) were recorded in pockets of Queensland’s east coast and southern inland Queensland, with the highest weekly total of 431 mm (art17 in) measured on the central Queensland coast.
The extreme rains brought widespread flooding, but also a few perks. Several large wildfires were doused outright, while cooler, wet weather aided firefighters as they fought other fires. The precipitation brought welcome relief to some areas that had been in drought for three to five years, raising water levels in the reservoirs and rivers and improving soil moisture. By late February, many previously-parched areas had begun to green up.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra acquired a true-color image of southeastern Queensland on February 28. The entire region wears a flush of green, marking freshly growing vegetation which has been given life thanks to the recent rains. The NASA Worldview App allows a comparison of this same area on December 31, 2019 and February 28, 2020, click HERE.
The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data accessible and freely available to the public.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/28/2020
Resolutions:
1km (593.6 KB), 500m (1.4 MB), 250m (1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
