Earth  ID: 12196

Southeast India Flooding, Dec. 2015

Released on April 5, 2016
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False-color image, acquired on December 8, 2015, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, showing the extent of flooding in southeastern India after a deluge of rain a week earlier. The Somasila Reservoir and other water bodies in the region are significantly expanded compared to the image from October 21, 2015.
In early December 2015, a deluge of rain led to widespread flooding in southeastern India. One estimate, based on data from a satellite that makes measurements through the cloud layers, found that rainfall totals in the area approached ,a href="v">400 millimeters (16 inches) during a 48-hour period.

About a week later, clouds cleared and afforded a view of the flooding that persisted. The false-color images above, acquired with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) onLandsat 8, show an area about 200 kilometers northwest of Chennai. The top image was acquired on October 21, before the rains, and the bottom image was acquired on December 8. Turn on the image comparison tool to see the change.

According to a news report on December 2, almost 1,000 cubic meters of water per second were pouring into Somasila Reservoir.

Read original story by Kathryn Hansen and Joshua Stevens NASA Earth Observatory:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=87158
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False-color image, acquired on October 21, 2015, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, showing the Somasila Reservoir and surrounding region.
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Animation of flood waters in southeastern India, near Chennai, sliding between an October 21, 2015, image and a December 8, 2015, image. Both are from the Operational Land Imager on the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite.

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NASA Earth Observatory

Credits

Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Producer
Joshua Stevens (SSAI): Lead Animator
Kathryn Hansen (SSAI): Lead Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12196

Missions:
Landsat
LDCM: Landsat Data Continuity Mission

This item is part of these series:
Geophysical Changes Over Time
Landsat

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Landsat
SVS >> Water
GCMD >> Location >> India
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Floods
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Social Behavior >> Hazard Mitigation/planning

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0