NASA’s Earth Observatory website has had quite a few photographs of the Australian continent recently – all with photographs of floods it seems. They have all been taken by satellites giving them an impersonal feel. The below image is stunning for a couple of reasons. Firstly it shows a part of Brisbane that I now quite well (if you know Brisbane, you will be able to spot the Brisbane Planetarium) and it was taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station using a digital camera and decent zoom lens. It makes me wonder if the astronauts saw the floods with their unaided eyes.
The following text (in italics) is from the specific NASA’s Earth Observatory website page. This detailed astronaut photograph illustrates flooding in suburbs of the Brisbane, Australia metropolitan region. The Brisbane area experienced catastrophic flooding following unusually heavy rainfall on January 10, 2011. With surficial soils already saturated from previous rainfall events, eastward-draining surface flow caused the Brisbane River to flood—inundating an estimated 20,000 homes in suburbs of the capital city of Queensland. Other cities in Queensland have also experienced damaging floods during previous heavy rainfall events this year.
The image, taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station, highlights several suburbs along the Brisbane River in the southern part of the Brisbane metropolitan area. The light-colored rooftops of residences and other structures contrast sharply with green vegetation and brown, sediment laden floodwaters. Most visible low-lying areas are inundated by floodwater, perhaps the most striking being Rocklea at image upper left. The suburb of Yeronga (image lower left) also has evident regions of flooding, as does a park and golf course located along a bend in the Brisbane River to the south of St. Lucia (image center). Flooding becomes less apparent near the higher elevations of Mt. Coot-Tha at image right.
