July 23, 2019 - Northwestern United States

On July 21, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of a sunny summer day across the Northwestern United States. The image captures, from north to south, a small part of British Columbia, Canada and the states of Washington and Oregon.

The summer heat has melted most of the visible snow caps on the peaks of the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Mountains, although popcorn clouds covering the peaks may hide snow from view. In the south-central section of the image, south of the Columbia River, the Wallowa Mountains retain snow cover.

West of the Cascades, a well-vegetated coastal plain stretches toward the Pacific Ocean. Separating Washington and Oregon, the Columbia River meanders through the relatively arid interior and coastal plain as it flows towards the ocean. Patchwork areas of light green in various areas of the Columbia Plateau mark agricultural fields, which are maintained by irrigation in the naturally dry plateau.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/21/2019
Resolutions: 1km (1.1 MB), 500m (3.3 MB), 250m (6.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC