Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Data acquired April 15, 2004 800 x 1000 258 KB - JPEG
Data acquired April 15, 2004 1600 x 2000 1001 KB - JPEG
Data acquired April 15, 2004 3200 x 4000 3 MB - JPEG
As the ground begins to thaw and snow melts, the Dnieper River and its tributaries have swollen with spring run-off. According to news reports, the rivers have caused some damage as flood waters inundate small cities along their banks. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of the river system on April 15, 2004. Four major rivers are shown running into the Dnieper, the large river that forms the trunk of this tree-like structure. On the far right is the Desna River, with the Seym River branching off of it. The center right branch is formed by the Sozh River and its tributaries. The center left branch is the Dnieper, and running into it from the top left is the Byarezina River. The far left branch is formed by the Prypyats River.
Complicating this tangle of flowing water, the borders of three countries snake along the rivers, sometimes following their flow, but often not. Russia is in the top right corner of the image, Ukraine forms the lower third, and Belarus is in the upper left corner. Romania, Moldova, and the Black Sea sit on the lower edge of the image.
In both images, fires are marked with red dots. The fires were likely started by farmers clearing their fields for spring planting. The false-color image, which makes the floods easier to spot, shows vegetation as green, bare ground as tan and pink, and clouds in light blue. Water is black and dark blue. In the true-color image, the landscape is still a winter brown.
Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Published May 6, 2004 Data acquired April 15, 2004