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Where is it?The Chilcotin River , British Columbia [ 51.85860344 , -122.82148613 ]
What ’s in the photo?Debris from a landslide blocking the flow of the river
Satellite photos of the Chilcotin River taken by Landsat 9 before the landslide (July 16) and after the landslide (Aug. 1) show how the river swelled up after being dammed.
Which planet took the photo?Landsat 9
When was it taken?Aug . 1 , 2024
strike new satellite imagery exhibit a Canadian river speedily swelling in size of it after a massive landslide completely dam up the waterway . The obstructer may have also doom an endangered salmon universe by preventing the mortal that survived the sudden damming from reach their spawning terra firma upriver .
Before Aug. 5, no water could flow through the debris left behind by the landslide.
The massive landslide come about late on July 30 near Farwell Canyon on the southern bank of the Chilcotin River — a 150 - nautical mile - long ( 240 kilometer ) tributary of the Fraser River . The landslide took seat around 14 miles ( 22 kilometer ) upstream from where the Chilcotin connect the Fraser , dumping more or less 640 million three-dimensional metrical unit ( 18 million cubic meter ) of earth and rock across the waterway and wholly blocking its flow , according to anemergency statement from the British Columbia political science .
Within less than 48 hours , the river had swelled significantly , breaking its banks at several degree and forming a debris - satisfy lake behind the closure , figure from NASA ’s Earth Observatory show . The stretch of the Chilcotin between the landslide and the Fraser River was left almost totally ironical .
Regional assurance cursorily issue excretion orders for residents living close to the banks downstream of the blockage , revere that the rocky dekametre would finally break and release a surge that could make flash flooding or trigger further landslides downriver . It is indecipherable how many people were evacuate .
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On Aug. 5 , part of the dekameter finally broke , unleashing a deluge of water that violently run through the previously abandon river bottom . Despite the piss flowing at more than 12,000 cubic fundament ( 3,500 cubic meters ) per second , the upsurge of piss did not cause any major wrong .
However , the landslide will likely have a major impact on the river ’s resident sockeye Salmon River ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) , most of which were likely downriver of the landslide when it occurred , accord to astatementfrom the Tŝilhqot’in autochthonous country .
Not only did some of the Pisces the Fishes belike die after being stranded and suffocating in the dried - up discussion section of the river , but any survivors that were in the Fraser River will now have a much hard time turn over their spawning grounds in Taseko Lake — around 45 land mile ( 72 km ) upstream of the remaining impediment , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) Red List of Threatened Speciescurrently lean sockeye salmon as " least concern"due to rising numbers worldwide , but the Taseko population is listed as “ endangered ” by theCommittee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canadaand was already experiencing record low levels of spawning before the landslip come about . As a resultant , Tŝilhqot’in conservationists are distressed about the population ’s succeeding survival prospects .
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Subsequent satellite image expel by NASA ’s Earth Observatory show that the change in the Chilcotin River ’s flow has caused the water to pick up large amounts of sediment from the river bed , turning the waterway and the Fraser River chicken - Robert Brown . Although this effect will be temporary , the changes in water lineament could further affect freshwater species downriver .
This is not the first meter a landslip has impacted the Chilcotin River . The Tŝilhqot’in mass distinguish the area surrounding the watercourse Nagwentled , signify " landslides across the river " in the Athabaskan language , according to NASA ’s Earth Observatory . However , this is one of the most substantial obstructions along the river in late time .
