Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Tuesday, 8 April 2008, 06:39 CDT Download full size image

The MODIS on the Terra satellite captured this image on April 5, 2008. It shows several different South American countries, particularly Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. One interesting feature is the Rio de la Plata Estuary, which you can see in the lower right corner of the image. The Rio de la Plata estuary is formed by both the Uruguay River and the Parana River, and is on the southeastern coastline of South America.

The estuary is between the countries of Uruguay (top) and Argentina (bottom), and opens up into the Atlantic Ocean. The capital cities of both countries are actually right on the estuary. Buenos Aires, Argentina is visible as a semi-circular gray patch on the southwestern end of it. Montivideo, Uruguay is a smaller grayish patch near the north side of the opening of the estuary.

A great deal of sediment is carried into the estuary each year, where the muddy waters are stirred up by winds and the tides. The few red dots you see are the locations of active fires.

A variety of land surface features are also visible in this image. Greenish pixels show forest regions, as well as characteristic clusters of rectangular patterns of agricultural fields. The lighter green pixels show arable regions where there is grazing and farming.

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