April 5, 2021 - Kafue Flats, Zambia

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   Kafue River, Zambia, Manyeke Lake
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   The Kafue River rises near the Congo/Zambia border, then meanders
   roughly 1,600 km (994 mi) across Zambia to eventually join the Zambezi
   River near Chirundu in Zimbabwe. After leaving Lake Itezhi-tezhi
   through the Itezhi-tezhi Dam, the Kafue becomes wide and shallow as it
   passes through the area known as the Kefue Flats. Eventually the waters
   are confined at a second dam, the Kafue Gorge hydro electric dam.

   Kafue Flats is a 6,500 square kilometer (2,510 sq mi) floodplain that
   was once one of the richest wildlife habitats in Africa, and was
   subject to heavy seasonal flooding. The rhythm of the seasonal rains
   followed by the hot, dry season sustained hunting, fishing, livestock
   grazing, and cropping on the flats. It also created a living habitat
   that supported over 400 bird species and a wide variety of animals,
   including the Kafue lechwe (Kobus leche)—a water-loving antelope that
   has been known to submerge in shallow water when threatened. The
   Itezhi-tezhi Dam was built, in part, to control flooding in the Flats;
   however, loss of seasonal floods had wide-ranging and mostly negative
   impacts on the ecosystem which depends on wet-season flooding to create
   lush growth of grasses in the dry season. Now the dam releases water to
   the Flats on a timetable that mimics the more natural seasonal rains,
   but also minimizes extensive and damaging extreme flood events.

   The climate of Zambia is marked by three distinct seasons. The cool-dry
   season runs from early May to August and is followed by the hot dry
   season from September to October. The wet-warm season begins in
   November and ends in March. Most of the rain falls between December and
   February. The dam releases water based on the rainfall each year, but
   to minimize extreme floods, it releases water as a “freshet”—the amount
   of water judged to meet the environmental requirement for flooding,
   flow flux, and recession of the water on the Kafue Flats. In wet years,
   the freshet may start as early as January, but in a dry year the
   freshet starts in March.

   On April 1, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
   the Kafue Flats. The lush dark green color of the Flats stand out in
   contrast to the light greens and tans of the dryer land surrounding the
   recently flooded area.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 4/1/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (122.4 KB),  500m (307.9 KB),  250m (151.8
   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=2021-04-05
 
