Madre de Dios Watershed

In 2004, a small group of freshwater conservation biologists at World Wildlife Fund who were studying the Madre de Dios River in the southwestern Amazon found a creative way to locate rivers. The team used high-resolution topographic maps based on radar data collected by the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 2000 to map how water would flow across the landscape. This image shows the result of their efforts, including elevation, river channels, and watershed boundaries.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the World Wildlife Fund HydroSHEDS Project. Thanks to Bernhard Lehner, McGill University; Robin Abell, World Wildlife Fund; and Ned Gardiner, American Museum of Natural History, for image interpretation.

Published February 10, 2007

Source:

Space Shuttle > SRTM