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NASA has released a video using satellite data that provides an estimate of rainfall and shows the spread of the resulting severe flooding in Kerala, and parts of Karnataka. The summer monsoon is a regular feature this time of year in India, and it can bring heavy rains to the region. However, periodically areas of low pressure can form within the general monsoon trough and bring even more rain. Kerala is facing its worst floods in nearly a century that has left at least 231 people dead, and forced over thousands of people out of their homes. The Centre has declared this calamity of 'severe nature'. Although the extreme Himalayan topography is much more well-known, another contributing factor to the heavy rains along the southwest coast of India is the Western Ghats, NASA said in a statement. Though much smaller than the Himalayas, this mountain range runs parallel to the West Coast of India with many peaks over 2,000 metres. As a result, the Western Gh...

Kerela Flood Even as the unprecedented floods and landslides have devastated most parts of Kerala in the last fortnight, technologically the most helpful support the authorities are getting in handling the situation was updates from Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and its various satellites which kept their eyes open up from the atmosphere. A set of remote sensing satellites and radar satellites has been taking pictures of various aspects of the situation in the flood-hit state from a distance of 400-800 kilometres from the Earth and sending it back with supportive data, which once crunched, helped the experts to predict the level of rains till then, what to expect in the next few hours and even about the situation in the forests and the water reservoirs. For instance, ResourceSat-2, launched on April 20, 2011, has proved to be helpful in taking pictures on the forestry and normal terrain and how the water bodies are while ScatSat-1 can track the wind, how it flows...