NASA-built satellites provided much information about Katrina's devastation, including the potential impact on climate change. The storm’s sustained winds of 125 miles per hour killed or damaged an estimated 320 million large trees. Growing forests remove carbon from the atmosphere, helping to cool our planet; decaying trees release carbon, contributing to climate change. Calculations based on satellite data show the total carbon loss from Katrina equaled 60-100% of the net annual carbon sink of all U.S. forests. In these Landsat 5 images of the New Orleans area, healthy vegetation appears bright green before the storm, indicating growing trees; bright red depicts plant mortality just weeks after the storm. Data courtesy USGS.

NASA image captured: left image 6/19/05 right image 9/25/05

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