October 11, 2020 - Pakistan

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   The Indus River gently curves across Pakistan, first rising in Tibet
   then travelling about 1,800 miles (3000 km) to meet the Arabian Sea
   near the city of Karachi. The Indus basin spans about 364,702 square
   miles (944,574 sq km) and encompasses the foothills of the Himalaya
   Mountains as well as the semi-arid plains of Pakistan where its waters
   create a wide green valley in which agriculture thrives. It is the 12th
   largest river in the world and carries an annual flow twice that of the
   Nile River.

   The Indus is fed by the southwest Asian monsoon, which pours through
   the riverbanks most heavily between June and late September each year.
   In typical years, the rising waters irrigate agricultural crops and,
   through various dams, create hydroelectricity. The monsoon rain and
   rushing river sweeps sediment into the Indus as well, carrying it to
   deposit it near the Arabian Sea in the expansive Indus Delta.

   While heavy rains are a part of life along the Indus during the
   monsoon, in some years exceptionally heavy downpours cause severe
   flooding. Such was the case in 2020, when flooding of the Indus caused
   more than 400 fatalities between mid-June and mid-September, with 400
   more injured and more than 200,000 homes damaged or destroyed. The
   hardest-hit province, Sindh, was drenched by sporadic rains in July
   followed by record-breaking downpours in August. Karachi, the
   provincial capital and Pakistan’s most populous city, received about 19
   inches (490 mm) of rain in August – the heaviest August rainfall ever
   recorded in that city. The government has reported that nearly one
   million acres of crops have also been destroyed by flooding, including
   cotton, vegetables, onions, tomatoes, and sugarcane.

   On October 9, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image
   centered on Pakistan and the Indus River Valley.

   A lush carpet of green colors the areas that have been watered by rains
   and floods, contrasting sharply to the tans found in the more arid
   regions, including the rugged, rocky and dry Sulaiman Range in the
   west. The waters of the Indus as well as its largest tributaries
   (Jhelum and Sutlej) appear muddy brown from copious suspended sediment.
   While flooding continued through mid-September, on September 24 the
   Pakistan Meteorological Department reported normal flow along the Indus
   and, as of October 10, the Indus remains at normal flow.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 10/9/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (56.6 KB),  500m (223.5 KB),  250m (743.8
   KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-10-11
 
