February 18, 2022 - Southwest Madagascar

Follow @NASA_MODIS

madagascar
Tweet
Share

Southwestern Madagascar’s spectacular colors, ranging from salty white,
to ferruginous red, to deep greens, created a beautiful and complicated
mosaic when viewed from space. On February 16, 2022, the Moderate
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra
satellite acquired a true-color image of this semi-arid region.

Sitting about 830 km (515 miles) off of the eastern African coast, much
of Southwestern Madagascar receives less than 75 mm (3 inches) of rain
annually. Most of this falls during the rainy season, which runs from
December through February, leaving the remainder of the year extremely
dry. With little rain, warm temperatures, and rugged terrain, a unique
ecosystem has developed. Known as the Madagascar spiny forest, it is
the region with the highest plant endemism in Madagascar, with about 95
of the plant species found nowhere else. Animal endemism is also high,
with species such as the endangered Grandidier’s Mongoose unique to the
region, and more than thirty-five species of endemic birds.

Much of Madagascar has been suffering from extended drought conditions,
including parts of the southwestern region. Since the beginning of
2022, however, the island has been battered by a number of devastating
storms. Tropical Storm Ana struck the southeastern coast on January 24,
impacting 185,429 people, injured 207 people, and killed at least 38
people. It also destroyed 11,757 houses and damaged 26 health centers,
and 25 water supply systems, according to ReliefWeb. This was followed
by landfall of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, again on the southeastern
coast, which affected 270,900 people and killed 120 as the storm
travelled across southwestward the country, passing over the area in
today’s image before moving over the Mozambique Channel. Ten days after
Tropical Cyclone Batsirai struck the southeast coast, Tropical Storm
Dumako made landfall on the northeast coast of the country on February
15. Two people are missing, at least 5,100 people have been directly
affected by that storm. On February 17, a new a new weather system—
Tropical Storm Emnati—formed in the Indian Ocean. Although the
trajectory and potential impact are still uncertain, it is continuing
to intensify, and it is forecast to strike the east coast of Madagascar
around February 22.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 2/16/2022
Resolutions: 1km (50.8 KB), 500m (122.4 KB), 250m (234.5
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-02-18

--- up 10 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)