The white ring around Lake Powell tells the story. The surface is down 98
feet. This is critical, because Powell, Lake Mead, and other lakes along
the Colorado River provide water for millions of people in five states. We
are in the eighth year of a drought on the Colorado River. This year was
the driest year ever reported in Southern California, and there is a
severe drought in Northern California, down to less than 30-percent of
snow pack. This ASTER image of part of Lake Powell was acquired in 2001.
The gray area depicts the shrunken, reduced 2007 lake extent compared to
the extended, larger black area in 2001.
The image covers an area of 24 x 30 km, and is centered near 37.1 degrees
north latitude, 111.3 degrees west longitude.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.
