In the wake of the 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck northeastern Japan in March 2011, ocean waters flooded croplands and settlements lining the Kitakami River. The ASTER on NASA's Terra satellite captured these images before and after the tsunami. The top image (March 14, 2011) and the bottom (January 16, 2011). The images combine infrared, red, and green wavelengths of light to form a false-color image that distinguishes between muddy water and land. Water is blue. Buildings and paved surfaces appear in shades of blue-gray. Fallow fields appear in shades of beige and brown. Vegetation is red, and the brighter the red, the more robust the vegetation. In the March image, water has spilled over the banks both north and south of the river. Although agricultural fields appear to have escaped the flooding farther inland (image left), some fields closer to the ocean have seemingly disappeared into the sea. North of the Kitakami, floodwaters extend far enough inland to create what looks like a parallel river. Near the coast, only the rugged peaks rising above the floodplains have escaped inundation.