International Business Times –
NASA and the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Landsat 8 satellite captured images of the Mekong river before and after it turned from its signature brown to an unusual aquamarine color. According to authorities, it is possible for the green color to persist until the flood season.
The Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 captured images of the Mekong river near the town of Huay Xai in Laos. Compared to the 2015 image where the Mekong was still brown, the latest image of the same area shows that the Mekong had turned somewhat blue-green.
In fact, the color change was first reported back in November 2019 in northern Thailand and, the change has since been observed along the Lower Mekong. According to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the water change happened as a result of slow-moving and extremely shallow river flows. Because of this, the fine sediments that typically turn the water brown have dropped, creating clearer water conditions and promoting the growth of algae.