NDVI Anomalies Show Areas of Likely Drought in the Western US (Southwest view)

  • Released Thursday, May 13, 2004
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Satellite data can gauge the health of plants, which is a good indicator of drought. Satellite imagery shows changes in vegetation between 1999 and 2003. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) measures how dense and green plant leaves are, which suggests overall vegetative health. The NDVI images are also useful as a measure of drought when compared to 'normal' plant health. NASA scientists calculate average NDVI values for an area to find out what is normal at a particular time of year. This data was measured by the vegetation instrument on Europe's SPOT satellite provided by DigitalGlobe/SPOT, under agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS).

In 2002, drought had settled across the Midwest. Large dark brown sections of eastern Colorado show where vegetation was less lush and healthy than normal.

This version of the visualization focuses on the southwestern United States.

Push into south western United States showing August NDVI data from 1999 to 2003 (with dates)

Push into south western United States showing August NDVI data from 1999 to 2003 (without dates)

NDVI data from Aug 10, 1999 showing greener (wetter) than normal conditions

NDVI data from Aug 10, 1999 showing greener (wetter) than normal conditions

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2000 showing some brown (drought) areas in New Mexico

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2000 showing some brown (drought) areas in New Mexico

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2001 showing some brown (drought) areas in Colorado

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2001 showing some brown (drought) areas in Colorado

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2002 showing widespread brown (drought) areas in Colorado and Arizona

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2002 showing widespread brown (drought) areas in Colorado and Arizona

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2003 showing widespread brown (drought) areas in Colorado and New Mexico and south eastern Arizona

NDVI data from Aug 10, 2003 showing widespread brown (drought) areas in Colorado and New Mexico and south eastern Arizona

Color Table showing below normal as red, brown, orange, and yellow and above normal as greens and purple

Color Table showing below normal as red, brown, orange, and yellow and above normal as greens and purple

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio. DigitalGlobe/SPOT data provided under agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS)
The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory.

This page was originally published on Thursday, May 13, 2004.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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