Australia is often considered the poster child for climate change because of its record heat waves, prolonged droughts, monsoon flooding, wildlife extinction, and mosquito-born illnesses. Southwest Australia in particular has been plagued by severe droughts over the past few years. Following a devastating drought in 2002, which decimated the country's wheat and barley harvests, farmers expanded their crop area, producing record crops in 2003 and 2004.

The green area on the image, which was captured by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite on March 16, 2004, represents the expanded crop area.