Falcon International Reservoir, US-Mexico - 2022

The Falcon International Reservoir is on the Rio Grande, 65 km southeast of Laredo, Texas, USA and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The Falcon Dam was constructed in 1953 to provide water conservation, irrigation, and hydroelectricity. Its maximum surface area, seen in the 2010 image, was 34,000 hectares. As a result of the 2010s-20s drought, the reservoir holds only a small fraction of its capacity. In 2010, vegetation in the area was healthy (dark red); in 2022, the area is parched. The images were acquired 14 July 2010 and 31 July 2022, cover an area of 29.8 by 46.9 km, and are located at 26.6 degrees north, 99.2 degrees west.

With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of about 50 to 300 feet (15 to 90 meters), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on Terra. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and data products.

The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.

The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

More information about ASTER is available at http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/.