English: Manaus, Brazil

(P-43895) This false-color image of the Manaus region of Brazil in South America was acquired by SIR-C/X-SAR on April 12, 1994, during the 46th orbit of the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-59). The area shown is about 8 by 40 kilometers (5 by 25 miles). Two large rivers are shown in this image — Rio Negro (top) and Rio Solimoes — just before they combine at Manaus to form the Amazon River. The image is centered at about 3 degrees south latitude and 61 degrees west longitude; north is at the top left corner of the image.

The false colors in the Manaus image are created by displaying three L-band polarization channels. Green areas in the image are heavily forested, while blue areas are either cleared forest or open water. The yellow and red areas are flooded forests. Flood waters often rise to just below the tree tops in flood season and are not visible to most conventional imaging systems. SIR-C/X-SAR penetrates below the rain forest canopy to detect the extent of flooding in the region. This type of multifrequency and multipolarization radar data can be used to monitor the hazards associated with flooding.

SIR-C/X-SAR's all-weather capability and regular repetition of coverage are crucial if phenomena such as floods, which vary greatly over time, are to be properly examined.