Earth from Space - Image Description

STS062-086-106 Mississippi River Floodplain, Arkansas, U.S.A. March 1994
The serpentine main channel of the Mississippi River is visible in its broad east-west floodplain in which the multitude of field patterns evidences fertile soils. Apparent are several scars where the former main course of the river created oxbow lakes. The smaller, meandering Arkansas River flows into the Mississippi River. The darker landscape along the rivers are swampy, heavily vegetated woodlands; the darker area (bottom right) is elevated, forested terrain.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.