Drought refuses to budge in key farming states

MODIS shows extreme drought
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites has provided an impressive look at the vegetarian – or lack thereof – across the country. The map, seen to the right, contrasts plant health in August 2012 against the average conditions. Areas in brown show where plan growth was below normal. The few green patches demonstrate areas where vegetation is more widespread than normal.

“By far, this is the driest year we have seen since the launch of MODIS,” said Molly Brown, a vegetation and food security researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a NASA report. “I am struck by the extraordinary depth and spatial scale of this drought. There is very little fodder out there for animals to eat.”

Read more from NASA here.