File:Above Average Rains Turns Argentina Green (MODIS 2024-02-18).jpg

English: February 11, 2024 February 18, 2023

Although much of northern South America experienced a dry spring and early summer (November-December) in 2023, eastern Argentina enjoyed very wet weather during that same period. The wettest areas included parts of the provinces of Corrientes, Santiago del Estero, Sante Fe, Cordoba, Entre Rios, and Buenos Aires. Some areas in those provinces received 175-200 percent of normal precipitation, with respect to a 1961-1990 base, according to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Monthly Global Climate Report for December 2023, which was published online January 2024.

Heavy rains in late 2023 brought vivid greening by early 2024. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image encompassing parts of the provinces of Cordoba, Sante Fe, and Santiago del Estero on February 11, 2024. The landscape is robustly covered with green vegetation. Mar Chiquita Lake, the largest naturally occurring salt lake in Argentina, is filled with water and the coastlines are bright green. Swirls of sediment accompanied by phytoplankton (microscopic, plant-like organisms) fill the center of the lake.

The second image of the same area was acquired by MODIS on Terra on February 18, 2023, following more typical spring and early summer precipitation. While some greening is present on this date, comparing the two images (click on the respective dates) shows large differences created by precipitation. In the 2023 image, not only does the landscape appear less green than in 2024, but Mar Chiquita Lake appears dramatically drier, with a ring of bright white salt along the edges. The northern shoreline of the lake, which is full of vegetation in 2024, is heavily coated in mineral deposits in 2023—clear evidence of a much drier environment.