Before and During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1993

  • Released Tuesday, April 4, 2006
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During the first half of 1993, heavy rains in the Midwest United States caused the greatest flood ever recorded on the Upper Mississippi. The Mississippi River remained above flood stage from April through September of that year, and many of the dykes and water control systems along the rivers in this region were overwhelmed. These images from the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper clearly show the flooded regions near St. Louis. The pink areas near the flooded regions show the scoured land from which the flood waters have receded. A comparison of the image during the flood with an image from a year before clearly shows the preponderance of cultivated fields in the lowland flooded region, evidence that floods and river meanderings have deposited rich soil in these regions in the past.

This animation shows two images from Landsat-5 of the region around St. Louis, Missouri, one from 1991 during normal conditions and one during the flood of 1993.

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An image from the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper of the region around St. Louis, Missouri, on August 14, 1991, one year before the Mississippi flood. The three rivers seen in this image are, from top to bottom, the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Missouri. St. Louis is just south of the Missouri River in the center of this image.This product is available through our Web Map Service.

An image from the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper of the region around St. Louis, Missouri, on August 14, 1991, one year before the Mississippi flood. The three rivers seen in this image are, from top to bottom, the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Missouri. St. Louis is just south of the Missouri River in the center of this image.

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An image from the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper of the region around St. Louis Missouri on August 19, 1993, just after the peak of the Mississippi flood.This product is available through our Web Map Service.

An image from the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper of the region around St. Louis Missouri on August 19, 1993, just after the peak of the Mississippi flood.

This product is available through our Web Map Service.

For More Information

See http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16881

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, April 4, 2006.
This page was last updated on Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 10:00 PM EST.

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