November 20, 2020 - New Mexico

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   New Mexico
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   On November 16, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image
   centered on the state of New Mexico. Gray lines have been overlain on
   the image to mark boundaries. A bit of eastern Arizona can be seen west
   of New Mexico and the country of Mexico sits in the south.

   Most of New Mexico is colored in tans and browns, testament to the arid
   to semi-arid climate where few plants grow. Most of the dark green
   forests bunch together in higher elevations while a few areas washed in
   pale green color regions with some recent precipitation. In southern
   New Mexico, sitting between the San Andres and Sacramento Mountains, a
   275-square mile patch of desert glistens bright white. This is the
   world’s largest gypsum dune field, also known as the White Sands. White
   Sands National Park protects a major portion of this dune field.

   According to the U.S. Drought Monitor on November 17, Exceptional D4
   Drought now extends across large sections of New Mexico as well as
   Arizona and Utah. Across most of Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico,
   precipitation totals have reached among the driest 5 percent on record
   at many locations. In New Mexico, 39.56 percent of the land is in D4
   drought – the highest possible category, 72.99 percent is in D3-D4
   status (Extreme to Exceptional Drought), and 99.54 percent is
   categorized as D2-D4 (Severe to Exceptional). More than two million
   people are currently estimated to live in the drought-stricken areas.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 11/16/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (60.5 KB),  500m (231.7 KB),  250m (806.9
   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=2020-11-20
 
