The Mississippi Delta

True Color Image View true color image in larger JPEG format. View true color image in TIFF format (13.8 mb).	False Color Image View false color image in larger JPEG format. View false color image in TIFF format (13.8 mb).

These Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) images of the Mississippi delta were acquired on April 26, 2000.

The true color image displays the alluvial fan of the Mississippi delta where the river flows into the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans is visible on the south bank of Lake Ponchartrain. The four-lane, 24-mile Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, the longest over-water bridge in the world, is discernible across the middle of Lake Ponchartrain. A smaller bridge that crosses to Slidell is visible at the east end of the lake. The city upstream is Baton Rouge.

Farther upstream are several oxbow lakes. As a river ages, it begins to meander when the current erodes outer edges and redeposits the resulting silt. Sometimes the river straightens and cuts off the meander loop, forming an oxbow lake.

The false color image uses the infrared, red, and green spectral bands to display areas of vegetation in red. The oxbow lakes are particularly visible in this image.

Data: MISR Level 1B2 Ellipsoid product, Path 022, Orbit 1898 (April 26, 2000) Blocks 65-68

Image credit: ASDC at NASA LaRC