East Central Africa

  • Credit

    Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

The tablelands of Zimbabwe dominate the lower right quadrant of this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of east-central Africa from May 11, 2003. The vegetation adapted to region contrasts sharply with the lush appearance of Zimbabwe´s eastern neighbor, Mozambique, a country crossed by dozens of rivers making their way across the coastal plain toward the Mozambique Channel (lower right). Among the rivers that stand out in this image are the Limpopo (bottom center), the Save (to the north) and the Zambezi, which flows along the northern border of Zimbabwe and across central Mozambique before fanning out into a marshy delta that appears brighter green than the surrounding vegetation.

North of Zimbabwe is Zambia, where thinning vegetation makes the northeast-trending arc of the Muchinga Escarpment stand out from the green background. To the east of Zambia is Malawi. Lake Malawi, also called Lake Nyasa, is the southernmost of Africa´s Great Rift Lakes, and it stretches along the country´d eastern border. The lake is partially claimed by Mozambique in the south, while the northeastern part is disputed territory between Malawi and Tanzania, to the north. Other countries shown in the image are Democratic Republic of Congo (upper left), Botswana (lower left), and South Africa (bottom center).

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2003-05-12