November 7, 2021 - Colorado River Delta

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Colorado River Delta
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The grand Colorado River once flowed freely from its source in the
central Rocky Mountains in Colorado through about 1,450 miles (2,330
km) of arid, spectacular scenery across five states before spilling
into the northern Gulf of California. Over time, however, the river’s
water has proven so essential to human life and livelihoods that it has
been siphoned off for crop irrigation and for residential use. Only
about 10 percent of all water that flows into the Colorado River
actually makes it into Mexico. Once in Mexico, most of those remnants
are also used for agriculture or drinking water.

The harnessing of the Colorado transformed the Colorado River Delta.
Once filled with lush marshland and many braided channels, the Delta
now has diminished to sandy mudflats and scattered bits of marshland.
The former rich wetland and riparian ecosystem contrasted strongly
against the arid desert and served as an oasis, supporting cottonwood
and willow and created breeding grounds for a large number of native
species. With the loss of the Colorado’s water, invasives moved in
while population of natives dropped steeply.

A joint effort between Mexico and the United States brings some hope to
save some of the remaining critical ecosystems once found so richly
along the Colorado River Delta. The Colorado River binational agreement
permitted a pulse flow of water from Morelos Dam in 2014 that brought
water once again to the Delta. Even this brief flow helped encourage
growth of trees and increased nesting bird populations. The current
agreement brought a flow of water measuring 35,000 acre-feet (11.4
billion gallons) through the river to reach the Delta from May 1 to
October 11, 2021. This annual life-enhancing baptism, which will occur
through 2026, is expected to help restore parts of the Delta and
support habitat for threatened species.

On November 4, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
the Colorado River Delta from the Salton Sea to the Gulf of California.
Patchworks of green appear at every location where water flows through
the river or where water can be diverted to support agriculture. The
orange-tinted sands of the Sonoran Desert can be seen in the east while
bright white salt flats sit on the western banks of the Delta. A few
areas of dark blue along the Delta are likely pools created by the flow
emitted during the summer and early fall of this year.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/4/2021
Resolutions: 1km (176.4 KB), 500m (466 KB), 250m (312.2 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=2021-11-07

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