File:Southwest Madagascar (MODIS 2022-02-18).jpg

English: Southwestern Madagascar’s spectacular colors, ranging from salty white, to ferruginous red, to deep greens, created a beautiful and complicated mosaic when viewed from space. On February 16, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of this semi-arid region.

Sitting about 830 km (515 miles) off of the eastern African coast, much of Southwestern Madagascar receives less than 75 mm (3 inches) of rain annually. Most of this falls during the rainy season, which runs from December through February, leaving the remainder of the year extremely dry. With little rain, warm temperatures, and rugged terrain, a unique ecosystem has developed. Known as the Madagascar spiny forest, it is the region with the highest plant endemism in Madagascar, with about 95 of the plant species found nowhere else. Animal endemism is also high, with species such as the endangered Grandidier’s Mongoose unique to the region, and more than thirty-five species of endemic birds.

Much of Madagascar has been suffering from extended drought conditions, including parts of the southwestern region. Since the beginning of 2022, however, the island has been battered by a number of devastating storms. Tropical Storm Ana struck the southeastern coast on January 24, impacting 185,429 people, injured 207 people, and killed at least 38 people. It also destroyed 11,757 houses and damaged 26 health centers, and 25 water supply systems, according to ReliefWeb. This was followed by landfall of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, again on the southeastern coast, which affected 270,900 people and killed 120 as the storm travelled across southwestward the country, passing over the area in today’s image before moving over the Mozambique Channel. Ten days after Tropical Cyclone Batsirai struck the southeast coast, Tropical Storm Dumako made landfall on the northeast coast of the country on February 15. Two people are missing, at least 5,100 people have been directly affected by that storm. On February 17, a new a new weather system— Tropical Storm Emnati—formed in the Indian Ocean. Although the trajectory and potential impact are still uncertain, it is continuing to intensify, and it is forecast to strike the east coast of Madagascar around February 22.