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This is a color composite image made from data transmitted by the NOAA-14 satellite as it passed directly over Louisiana at 1:45 CST (19:45 UT) 1997 Feb 16. The image was created by coloring AVHRR channel 2 red, channel 1 green, and channel 3 blue. This was a clear sunny winter day and the image shows a wealth of detail. Vegetation appears red or somewhat purple in this color combination. Water appears black where clear and green where muddy; the warm gulf water appears dark blue at the bottom of the image. The Mississippi River flows down the center of the image. Its muddy water exits into the gulf at the delta and forms streamers of muddy water that appear green here. The Red River cuts a wide valley from the northwest corner toward the southeast through the highlands. The muddy water of Atchafalaya Bay forms a bright green patch in the lower center of the image. While not visible itself, interstate 20 connects a line of cities about 1/5 of the way from the top of the image. These appear as light blue-gray fuzzy patches; from west to east: Shreveport, LA on the Red River, Monroe, LA at the edge of the darker highlands, tiny Vicksburg, MS just east of the Mississippi River, Jackson, MS on the Pearl River, and Meridian, MS at the east edge of the image. Southern Louisiana has a very intricate and complex drainage system. The Mississippi River itself is shown better on a channel 2 image which is near infrared. The delta sediment plume is shown better on an image of the southern coast. A channel 3 only view of this area shows a number of bright spots which are hot areas. Some of these may be fields being burned and some may be oil refineries. The two bright spots well out in the gulf are offshore oil platforms burning off excess gas. The sediment plumes from the delta appear dark in this channel indicating that they are cold. This is not surprising since much of the Mississippi water comes from states to the north and since this is a winter image the water is cold. A 1995 Nov 15 image is also available. Return to the JHU/APL AVHRR image gallery External web pages on the Mississippi River Delta |
