False-color image of Cat Island, Mississippi (north at top), produced from IKONOS satellite data (near-infrared, red and blue bands) acquired nine days after the catastrophic strike by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. Located off the eastern fringe of the subsiding Mississippi delta complex, this slowly-sinking island, western member of the Alabama-Mississippi barrier chain, is composed mostly of strandplain ridges. Erosive sand redistribution after its deactivation explains the island's highly unusual T-shape. Terrestrial vegetation (green), tidal marsh (purple), and bare dune and beach sand (white) form the surface cover. Katrina, unprecedented in its dimensions and regional impact has flooded the entire island. At its peak, the tidal surge may have exceeded 10–12 m. Eliminating the southeastern barrier spit (bottom right), storm erosion, also temporarily, isolated the marsh-covered beach ridge sets of Middle Spit peninsula (purple below center). Since cessation of ridgeplain growth due to progradation of an adjacent Mississippi River...

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