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ISS007-E-14344

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View	ISS007-E-14344.JPG	67823	540	349			NASA's Earth Observatory web site
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Identification

Mission: ISS007 Roll: E Frame: 14344 Mission ID on the Film or image: ISS007
Country or Geographic Name: MADAGASCAR
Features: BETSIBOKA RIVER DELTA, MAHAJANGA
Center Point Latitude: -16.0 Center Point Longitude: 46.5 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Stereo: (Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same area)
ONC Map ID: JNC Map ID:

Camera

Camera Tilt: 38
Camera Focal Length: 180mm
Camera: E4: Kodak DCS760C Electronic Still Camera
Film: 3060E : 3060 x 2036 pixel CCD, RGBG array.

Quality

Film Exposure:
Percentage of Cloud Cover: 25 (11-25)

Nadir

Date: 20030904 (YYYYMMDD)GMT Time: 092823 (HHMMSS)
Nadir Point Latitude: -13.4, Longitude: 47.0 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: South
Sun Azimuth: 335 (Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point)
Spacecraft Altitude: 205 nautical miles (380 km)
Sun Elevation Angle: 67 (Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
Orbit Number: 3337

Captions

Betsiboka Estuary, Madagascar:
The Betsiboka Estuary on the northwest coast of Madagascar is the mouth of Madagascar’s largest river and one of the world’s fast-changing coastlines. Nearly a century of extensive logging of Madagascar’s rainforests and coastal mangroves has resulted in nearly complete clearing of the land and fantastic rates of erosion. After every heavy rain, the bright red soils are washed from the hillsides into the streams and rivers to the coast. Astronauts describe their view of Madagascar as “bleeding into the ocean.” One impact of the extensive 20th century erosion is the filling and clogging of coastal waterways with sediment—a process that is well illustrated in the Betsiboka estuary. In fact, ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka estuary, but must now berth at the coast.

A bad situation is made worse when tropical storms bring severe rainfall, greatly accelerating the rates of erosion. As an illustration, astronauts aboard the International Space Station documented widespread flooding and a massive red sediment plume flowing into the Bestiboka estuary and the ocean in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gafilo, which hit northern Madagascar on March 7th and 8th, 2004 (ISS008-E-19233). This image (ISS007-E-14344) was taken in September 2003 shows normal water levels in the estuary.

Despite the heavy coastal flooding in the top image, new coastal developments can be seen. The Mahajanga Aquaculture Development Project, a joint venture between Madagascar and the Japan International Cooperative Agency, strings along the coastal region at the mouth of the estuary (inset images). This project is a shrimp farm and has been developed since 1999. Successive images taken by astronauts show increasing numbers of ponds constructed between 2000 and the present. Coastal aquaculture projects are frequently controversial, pitting the protection and viability of coastal ecosystems (especially rapidly disappearing mangrove environments), against badly needed industry in developing countries.

links:
Flooding in Madagascar

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