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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS027-E-32535 Date: May 2011
Geographic Region: USA-LOUISIANA
Feature: MISSISSIPPI RIVER, FLOODING, LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN, NEW ORLEANS

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  Sediment Plume in Lake Pontchartrain

Note: This caption refers to the image versions labeled "NASA's Earth Observatory web site".

The Bonnet Carre Spillway delivered a plume of thick sediment to Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain in mid-May 2011. Taken on May 17, 2011, this astronaut photo shows a muddy plume in the lake, as well as the sediment-clogged Mississippi River meandering through the city of New Orleans. Water flowing through the spillway into Lake Pontchartrain is also muddy brown.

The Bonnet Carre Spillway, Morganza Floodway, and breached levee near Cairo, Illinois, all diverted some of the flood waters from the Mississippi River in the spring of 2011. The diversion measures aimed to lessen the damage caused by an unusually severe spring flood season.

The Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) of the U.S. National Weather Service reported that the Mississippi River at New Orleans reached 17.05 feet (5.20 meters) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, 2011. This was just above the flood stage for this location, of 17.0 feet (5.18 meters), and well below the record flood level of 21.3 feet (6.5 meters), set in 1922. The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, meanwhile reached 44.71 meters (13.63 feet) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, the AHPS reported. This qualified as major flooding for the Mississippi at that location, but it was below the record flood level of 47.3 meters (14.4 feet) set in 1927. Mississippi River water levels were projected to remain fairly steady at both locations through May 25, 2011.
 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 262k
Mission: ISS027  
Roll - Frame: E - 32535
Geographical Name: USA-LOUISIANA  
Features: MISSISSIPPI RIVER, FLOODING, LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN, NEW ORLEANS  
Center Lat x Lon: 30.0N x 90.2W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N2
 
Camera Tilt: 25   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 180  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: N   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number: 3608  
 
Date: 20110517   YYYYMMDD
Time: 131306   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 28.6N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 89.8W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 81   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 184   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 26   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views:  
Water Views: FLOODING, LAKE, RIVER, SEDIMENT  
Atmosphere Views: PLUME  
Man Made Views:  
City Views: NEW ORLEANS  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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