Floods in Greece and Turkey

  • Credit

    NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.

The river that defines the border between Greece and Turkey is at its highest level in 50 years. On February 22, 2005, the river formed a wide band of blue in this MODIS image.

Heavy rain and melting snow combined to swell the rivers of northeastern Greece and northwestern Turkey. On February 22, 2005, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the left image of the flooded Evros (also called Meric) and Ergene Rivers. The rivers have expanded from the thin lines seen in January into wide blue ribbons. Water levels on the Evros are at their highest in the past fifty years. The floods are reported to have destroyed thousands of acres of farmland.

The images are presented in false color to highlight the presence of water, which is typically camouflaged in the landscape. Here, water is black, and shallow, sediment-laden water is dark blue. Plant-covered areas are bright green, and clouds are light blue and white. Bare earth is tan.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Start Date

    2005-02-22

  • Event Start Date

    2005-02-22

  • NH Image ID

    12731

  • NH Event ID

    10608

  • NH Posting Date

    2005-02-24