ISS030-E-90012

Browse image
Resolutions offered for this image:
1000 x 664 pixels 540 x 359 pixels 720 x 480 pixels 4288 x 2848 pixels 640 x 425 pixels
Cloud masks available for this image:
Binary Heatmap

Spacecraft nadir point: 23.6° S, 51.4° W

Photo center point: 21.2° S, 51.9° W

Photo center point by machine learning:

Nadir to Photo Center: North

Spacecraft Altitude: 220 nautical miles (407km)
Click for a map
Width Height Annotated Cropped Purpose Links
1000 pixels 664 pixels No Yes Earth From Space collection Download Image
540 pixels 359 pixels Yes Yes Earth From Space collection Download Image
720 pixels 480 pixels Yes Yes NASA's Earth Observatory web site Download Image
4288 pixels 2848 pixels No No Download Image
640 pixels 425 pixels No No Download Image
Other options available:
Download Packaged File
Download a Google Earth KML for this Image
View photo footprint information
Download a GeoTIFF for this photo
Image Caption: Parana River Floodplain, Mato Grosso-Sao Paulo border, Brazil

The Parana River appears as a wide, blue strip across this astronaut photograph, with muddy brown water of the smaller Verde River entering from the northwest (top left). An extensive wetland (dark green) occupies most of the left half of the image, where the floodplain of the river reaches a width of 11 kilometers. The thin line of a road crossing the floodplain also gives a sense of scale. Above the Parana-Verde confluence (image center) the floodplain is much narrower.

The floodplain is generated by sediments delivered by both rivers. Evidence for this is that the entire surface of the floodplain is crisscrossed by the wider traces of former Parana R. channels as well as numerous narrower traces of the Verde R. The floodplains along both rivers are bordered by numerous rectangular agricultural fields. Dominant crops along this part of the Parana River are coffee, corn and cotton.

Turbid water, such as that in the Verde River, is common in most rivers that drain plowed agricultural land as some topsoil is washed into local rivers after rains. A long tendril of brown water extends from the Verde R. into the main channel of the Parana River where it hugs the west bank, remaining unmixed for many kilometers. This effectively shows the direction of river flow from orbit (right to left for the Parana, upper left to image center for the Verde).