Earth from Space - Image Description

STS61B-50-0007 Mouths of the Ganges River, India and Bangladesh November 1985
South of the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers (not shown in this photograph) and north of the Bay of Bengal lies the vast Ganges Delta plain, approximately 220 miles (350 kilometers) wide. Parts of the delta, the world's largest, lie in both Bangladesh and the State of West Bengal, India. In this low-oblique, infrared photograph, the deep reds of healthy vegetation register the Sundarbans, an abundant mangrove swamp that is the largest remaining habitat of the Bengal tiger. The entire region is plagued almost yearly by severe storm surges and powerful low-pressure cyclones that arrive from the Bay of Bengal. Although death and destruction follow in the wake of these storms, the resilient survivors continue to cultivate crops of rice, sugar cane, and jute.

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Earth Science &
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