Impact of a 2007 drought (1)#
The photos are vegetation anomaly images that indicate how quickly plants were taking in light and growing. Areas that are green are regions where plants were larger and leafier (leading to more photosynthesis) than they were on average from 2000 through 2006.
Brown areas show where plants were smaller or less leafy than average, in this case as a result of drought. Gray areas indicate where clouds blocked the ground from view throughout the observation period, and blue is water. The above satellite image is a compilation of daily data collected between 28 July 28 and 12 August 2007, when the impact of the drought was at its greatest.
Summer crops, such as corn and sunflowers, were in a critical stage of development, during which water was essential. The deep brown tone that covers all of Moldova reveals that the hot, dry weather devastated plants. The following image, from 29 August through 13 September, reveals just how much conditions can change in a single month.
Some of what had been brown is brushed with green where plants responded to rainfall. Helpful though the precipitation evidently was to those plants that were still growing, it arrived too late to improve crop conditions in general.