Earth Matters

September Puzzler

September 17th, 2024 by Kathryn Hansen

Update on October 1, 2024: This Landsat 8 image shows an A-shaped oxbow lake in Azerbaijan. Congratulations to James Varghese and Patti Sutch for being the first readers to identify the location and point out the oxbow lake. Read more about the area and the Your Name in Landsat tool in “A is for Azerbaijan.”

Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The September 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.

How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or you can dig deeper and offer details about what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure feature. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.

The prize. We cannot offer prize money or a trip on the International Space Station, but we can promise you credit and glory. Well, maybe just credit. Within a week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. After we post the answer, we will acknowledge the first person to correctly identify the image at the bottom of this blog post. We also may recognize readers who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for or attend an institution that you would like to recognize, please mention that as well.

Recent winners. If you have won the puzzler in the past few months, or if you work in geospatial imaging, please hold your answer for at least a day to give less experienced readers a chance.

Releasing comments. Savvy readers have solved some puzzlers after a few minutes. To give more people a chance, we may wait 24 to 48 hours before posting comments. Good luck!

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23 Responses to “September Puzzler”

  1. Barbara says:

    Seems like a piece of Blue Nile River, but a U-shaped piece should be connected somehow with the river. That is my idea, greetings!

  2. James Varghese says:

    Lake Guakhmaz, Azerbaijan
    40°39’50.8 N 47°06’36.2 E
    This was featured as representing the letter ‘A’ in ‘Your Name in Landsat’

  3. Giulio says:

    Lake Balkhash, located in southeastern Kazakhstan, is one of Asia’s largest lakes, covering about 16,400 square kilometers. It is unique for having both freshwater in its western part and saline water in the east, separated by a narrow strait. The lake formed in a tectonic depression, created by shifts in the Earth’s crust, and is primarily fed by the Ili River. Over time, the lake has faced environmental challenges due to water diversion and climate change, leading to lower water levels and increased salinity. These issues pose a significant threat to the lake’s biodiversity and surrounding ecosystems. It is vital for the local population, providing water for agriculture, fishing, and industry in the surrounding regions.

  4. Giulio says:

    I was mistaken, it is about Lake Guakhmaz in Azerbaijan and the Kura River.
    40 39 50.8 N 47 0636.2 E

  5. Mike McManus says:

    The Mississippi River. Shows truncated loops and former paths of the river.

  6. Patti Sutch says:

    There is a cut-off oxbow lake in the center of the image, left from the previous meanders of the river. It could be the lower Mississippi River where there is not much topographic relief.

  7. Michael Johnson says:

    I think this is
    Lake Guakhmaz, Azerbaijan
    40°39’50.8 N 47°06’36.2 E
    If so, it’s interesting because it looks more like a bend in a river that was cut off. Maybe to form a lake?

  8. Laura says:

    Meandering river … maybe the Mississippi
    its interesting because of the remaining oxbow lake in the center of the image that looks pretty old based on the established farmland between it and the new path.

  9. Michael Bikerman says:

    Cut-off meanders in an agricultural floodplain region – maybe in Louisiana?

  10. Jorge Arango says:

    To me it looks like the Mississippi river near New Orleans.

  11. David Stephens says:

    Lake Guakhmaz, Azerbaijan
    It is an oxbow lake.

  12. John Barbieri says:

    The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the Gordian Knot of California water supply. 80 percent of Southern California’s water comes from this area. Hollywood didn’t build L.A. Water did.

  13. Nerissa-Cesarina Urbani says:

    Po River Italy

  14. Monica Graciela Castro says:

    I don’t know the location, but it is an area under irrigation in the surroundings of a plain river.
    Active and abandoned meanders can be seen, as well as irrigation and drainage canal systems. It is also possible to see some areas with natural vegetation and erosion features produced during the evolution of the meanders.
    On the upper side of the image you can see a path that separates an area with natural vegetation from an area under irrigation and then a bridge that connects a small urban area.
    It is probably a Landsat image in combination of true color bands.

  15. Herb Piller says:

    Mississippi river midwest USA, showing meandering river with cut banks, oxbow lake, agriculture in the fertile floodplain.

  16. Dan B. says:

    The meandering stream and oxbow lakes in an intensively farmed bottoms. The array of smaller fields indicate that small farmers have been here since at least the 19th century. This is probably a tributary to the Mississippi River in Louisiana or the state of Mississippi.

  17. Michael Purves says:

    It looks to me like a section of the Yangtze River in China. This is interesting because the river continually erodes its banks as it meanders along. The meanders take an omega-like shape. The river erodes the right-hand bases of the omegas, and gradually the two portions at the base of the omega come together. The river then flows along the new channel. The top part of the omega becomes an ow bow and the river leaves it behind.

  18. Kyle Bryner says:

    Oxbow lake!

  19. Joe Kelley says:

    Image shows the Mississippi River in its upper delta plain in Louisiana. There is an oxbow lake, a former river channel meander as well. The river likely used this channel before Europeans arrived.

  20. Kevin V says:

    Oxbow lakes, two that are joined together but still have been cut off by the shifting river.

  21. Poorna Sreeram says:

    I think it is an oxbow lake but what is interesting is the the oxbow lake is enlongated to include some of the river’ boundries

  22. Lava1961 says:

    Possibly Danube river , Upper left Village of Gerjen , Bali Major, Dombori ,Volentobol
    approx slightly below center of picture 46.27.57.28 N –18.49.52.95 E ..

  23. Lava1961 says:

    2nd search , Kura River,of Azerbaijan taken on OLI-2 Landsat 2
    Lake is Ozero Akhmaz