Earth  ID: 3352

Before and During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1993

Visualizations by Horace Mitchell Released on April 4, 2006
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.
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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.

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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.

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For More Information

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

Visualization Credits

Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Darrel Williams (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3352

Mission:
Landsat

Data Used:
Landsat-5/TM
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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.

This item is part of this series:
WMS

Keywords:
DLESE >> Human geography
DLESE >> Hydrology
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Hydrological Hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Surface Water >> Floods
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Hydrosphere >> Surface Water >> Rivers/Streams
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth

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