SPACEPHOTOS

The southeasterly draining Godavari River has created a classic fan-shaped delta along the southeast coast of India. The wet, summer monsoon of India has a dramatic impact on the volume and flow rate of water that the Godavari River can accommodate. By observing this image that is pre-summer monsoon, the volume of water, as well as the flow rate into and through the delta is minimal. The source area for the Godavari River is northeast of Bombay (on the western edge of the Deccan Plateau) and in spite of the river’s substantial length of 870 miles (1400 km) only moderate rainfall amounts across the Deccan Plateau allow modest discharge rates into the Bay of Bengal. The fertile delta is however, one of India’s main rice growing regions. The location of the cultural capital, Rajahmundry, is barely visible on the east bank of the Godavari River, slightly south of where the main river channel splits into two distributary channels. The lighter-colored features in the floodplains of the meandering channels are sandbars.