Rivers Leave Pieces of Themselves Behind

This river keeps leaving pieces of itself behind.

NASA’s satellite sequence shows Peru’s Ucayali River changing shape from 1985 to 2023.

Watch what happens to the loops.

Ucayali River, Peru: Landsat imagery from 1985 to 2023 — NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. GIF converted from the original NASA time-lapse.

A bend stretches. Its neck narrows. The river takes a shortcut.

The old loop can be left behind as an oxbow lake.

Those curved lakes beside a river? Some are pieces of its former route.

Ucayali River in 1985: meanders and abandoned channels — NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. Original still from the Landsat sequence.

That horseshoe-shaped lake is a clue to where the river used to flow.

Once you know what an oxbow is, a satellite map starts telling a different story.

Ucayali River in 2023: the changed route — NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio. Final frame extracted from the original time-lapse.

This river keeps leaving pieces of itself behind.

NASA’s satellite sequence shows Peru’s Ucayali River changing shape from 1985 to 2023.

Watch what happens to the loops.
A bend stretches. Its neck narrows. The river takes a shortcut.

The old loop can be left behind as an oxbow lake.

Those curved lakes beside a river? Some are pieces of its former route.
That horseshoe-shaped lake is a clue to where the river used to flow.

Once you know what an oxbow is, a satellite map starts telling a different story.

Rivers Leave Pieces of Themselves Behind

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