Nepal glacier collapse and flood – before and after

With thousands of emergency responders conducting search-and-rescue operations following the catastrophic flash flood that struck northern Nepal on 26 August, satellite imagery is helping to reveal the scale of the inundation and devastation across the affected region.

The image on the left was captured by the US Landsat-9 mission on 26 August, approximately two hours after the glacier had collapsed, while the image on the right was captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2 on 24 August, providing a pre-event view for comparison. The two images were processed using the satellites’ shortwave-infrared channels, which can help distinguish water and ice from clouds in this frequently cloud-covered mountainous region of the world.

Read full story: Nepal flash flood imaged by satellites