Stark new images capture the severity of the drought that has plagued California for the past year.
Satellite photos from NASA and other agencies capture California’s water-starved landscape from Sacramento along the Sierra Nevadas and into southern areas, as the Golden State emerges from its driest year on record.
Overall, just 6.97 inches of rain fell in California from Feb. 1, 2013 to Jan. 30, 2014, the fewest since the state began keeping records in 1885, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory blog.
One pic captures the desperate situation at Folsom Lake, an 11,450-acre reservoir some 25 miles north of Sacramento.
A 2011 view shows the lake at 97% full while two years later it sits brown and barren at just 17% capacity.
The decreased water levels at the site caused the reemergence of a Gold Rush-era boomtown some six decades after it was flooded during the lake’s construction.
Visitors to the area were able to make out ghostly structures and crumbling foundation of the long-lost settlement, known as Mormon Island, once home to 2,500 Mormon immigrants and miners, local KCRA-TV reported.
Another pic, taken from NASA’s Terra satellite, shows the gradual ebb of snow cover on the Sierra Nevada, Coast and Cascade mountain ranges from January 2013 to last month, when Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.
NASA explained the crisis on its blog: “In 2013 — a year into the drought — the central valley was green with growing crops. The coastal hills were also green from winter rain.
“In 2014, everything west of the forested mountains is brown. Even irrigated agriculture in the center of the state appears to be limited compared to 2013.”
On Tuesday, NASA said it would step in to assist the state’s department of water resources to help better manage the state’s water supply and develop new technologies to ease the dry spell.
As part of the effort, the space agency’s scientists said they would deploy satellites and other airborne tools to improve the state’s ability to measure snowpack, groundwater levels and predict storms.
“It sounds like a cliche, but if they could put a man on the moon, why can’t we get better seasonal forecasting?” water department spokeswoman Jeanine Jones said.
With News Wire Services
