Lake Turkana, Kenya
The changes in landcover for the Lake Turkana area of Kenya over the time span 01/02/73 to 12/01/89. In either the early or late FCC image, it can be (correctly) interpreted that most of the land surrounding Lake Turkana is bare. In the Difference FCC image, the most obvious change is the expansion of the delta of the river feeding the Lake in the north as well as more diffuse loss of cover around the lake. The dramatic increase in the size of the delta at the head of the Lake is the result of two processes. The first is a tremendous increase in the sediment load in this river. The sediment is coming from degrading rangelands outside this image, upstream in Ethiopia. The growth of the delta is exaggerated by a fall in lake level. This can be deduced from evidence in the early and late images, try it! The nature of these changes can be interpreted by eyeballing the early and late FCC images. The principal message of this scene is the bare state of the land.
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