Earth  ID: 2777

Lake Mead Shrinks!

Visualizations by Stuart A. Snodgrass Released on July 22, 2003
Lake Mead reservoir is nestled between Arizona and Nevada and runs up to the Hoover Dam. The reservoir stores Colorado River water and supplies it to farms, homes and business in Southern Nevada, Arizona, southern California and northern Mexico. Scientists at NASA are releasing dramatic pictures of the dwindling water supplies in the drought-stricken western United States. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the Colorado Basin is in its fourth year of drought and computer models project water levels will go down another 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m) by next year. Despite low water levels, The National Park Service says there is still plenty of water for recreation. The Landsat 7 satellite captured images of Lake Mead May 2000, and May 2003. The 2003 image clearly shows a shrinking lake.
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Landsat 7 satellite shows a shrinking Lake Mead.
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Image from the year 2000.
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Image from the year 2003.

Visualization Credits

Stuart A. Snodgrass (GST): Lead Animator
Marte Newcombe (GST): Animator
Darrel Williams (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2777

Mission:
Landsat

Data Used:
Landsat-7/ETM+
2000, 2003
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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
SVS >> Drought
DLESE >> Hydrology
DLESE >> Natural hazards
NASA Science >> Earth