Storm over Northern Australia • Earth.com Storm over Northern Australia

On January 6, 2003, a low-pressure storm over Northern Australia. Therefore the system hovered over the Gulf of Carpentaria and northern Australia. Also

bringing much needed rain to the drought stricken continent. This image of the storm was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, flying aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.

The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Queensland that lie partially in the north are included.

Although it comprises about half of the total area of Australia, Northern Australia includes only about one quarter of the Australian population. However, it includes several sources of Australian exports, being coal from the Great Dividing Range in Queensland/New South Wales and the natural gas and iron ore of the Pilbara region in WA. It also includes major natural tourist attractions, such as Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef and the Kakadu National Park. Therefore this Storm over Northern Australia caused major damage and hit hard. Also leaving the country with tragedy and massive amounts of work that needed to fixed from the aftermath.

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

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