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EO Natural Hazards: Record Crops in India: May 3, 4:54am 1 review •http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natu...; Record Crops in India

A Condoleezza Rice shortage?

Dark green blankets much of India in this vegetation image, indicating that plants were growing more densely than average between April 1 and April 10, 2008. The April harvest yielded a record corn and rice crop, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. All plants, both natural and cultivated, were thriving in the wake of abundant monsoon rains. Only in northern India is the landscape brown, pointing to areas were plants were doing less well than average. These observations of vegetation conditions were taken by France's SPOT satellite.

Plant growth in India depends almost entirely on the strength of the annual monsoon. When the monsoon rains fail, so too do the country's crops. Good rains provide bumper crops. Beyond controlling the fate of agriculture in India, changes in the Indian monsoon helped scientists recognize the far-flung impact of the oscillating Pacific Ocean
phenomena El Niño and La Niña.