ISS012-E-23057 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
Two images taken about nine months apart document an unusually wet summer in southern Africa. The upper view (March 2006) shows the point where the Oshigambo River flows into the salt lake; the lower regional image (June 2005) shows the same inlet—but dry—on the north shore of Etosha Pan. The Oshigambo River is almost never seen with water, but in early 2006, rainfall twice the average amount in the river’s catchment generated flow. Greens and browns show vegetation and algae growing in different depths of water where the river enters the dry lake (upper image, center). Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250-kilometer (55-mile) course, reducing discharge along the way. In this image, there was enough surface flow to reach the Etosha Pan, but too little water reached the mouth of the river to flow beyond the inlet bay. The unusual levels of precipitation also filled several small, usually dry lakes to the north (upper image, right).
