NASA's Earth Observatory has released satellite pictures showing the greening effect of recent flooding on western and north-western Queensland.
The pictures, taken using NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) mounted on its Terra satellite, show water flowing into parts of the state that were bone-dry just a month and a half ago, bringing with it increased vegetation.
While pictures generated by spectroradiometers are rendered in false colour, due to the instruments' ability to measure properties of light far beyond what the eye can see, the blue sections do still represent water, while the green sections represent vegetation and the brown sections arid brown land.
Northern Queensland has experienced extensive rain over the past month, with some areas reporting well over 300 millimetres in 24-hour periods.
That rainfall is flowing inland and combining with smaller amounts of local rainfall to cause local bodies of water to overflow.
The town of Bedourie in the state's west was cut off by flooding earlier this month, leading to more than 850 kilograms of groceries having to be flown in to the town's only grocery store on a passenger plane.
Nearby Eyre Creek, clearly visible in the images released by NASA, peaked at 4.45 metres on Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The influx of water from the north means it is expected to remain over the 4m mark for the next several days, despite no significant rainfall being recorded across the catchment since last week.
NASA also released pictures of the state's north-west on Tuesday, taken using MODIS on its Terra and Aqua satellites.
The pictures show that the region remains flooded even as waters flow south, with the wetlands along the Carpentaria Coast visibly inundated and vegetation springing up across the Cape York Peninsula.
