1 Before and During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1993 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. Animation (2048x2048) 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. 1 0 1991-08-14 1995-08-23T23:59:59Z 1991-08-14 1 1 1991-08-14 1993-08-18T23:59:59Z http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003352/frames/2048x2048/mississippiflood.0000.png 38.372716 39.313252 -91.105179 -89.901729 1993-08-19 1 1 1993-08-19 1995-08-23T23:59:59Z http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003352/frames/2048x2048/mississippiflood.0001.png 38.372716 39.313252 -91.105179 -89.901729 Still Image (3390x3390) 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. 0 1 http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003352/mississippiflood.08_19_1994.png 38.372716 39.313252 -91.105179 -89.901729 Still Image (3390x3390) 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. 0 1 http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003352/mississippiflood.08_14_1991.png 38.372716 39.313252 -91.105179 -89.901729