Earlier this year a "pulse" of 105,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water was released from the Morelos Dam on the Arizona/Mexico border in an international effort to study the environmental impact of restoring the flow of the river to its historic reach into the Sea of Cortez.

Due to water demand and allocation, the Colorado River -- considered the most endangered waterway in the U.S. -- hadn't reached the Sea of Cortez in 15 years, leaving the once lush delta a dry, barren mess.

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But the first of five pulses of water over the next five years appears to have had a dramatic effect on vegetation along the banks of the river. As a new NASA/USGS study found, the pulse caused a 23 percent increase in greenness from August 2013 to August 2014 along the stretch of formally dry river.

Most of the water released in the pulse was absorbed by the parched earth in the 37 miles downstream from the dam, restoring the groundwater. That groundwater helped revitalize the existing vegetation along the riverbank and reverse a 13-year streak of a decreasing vegetation.

"The vegetation that desperately needed water was finally able to support more green leaves," said Pamela Nagler of the U.S. Geological Survey. "These are existing trees, like saltcedar, willow and cottonwood, and a lot of shrubs and grasses that hadn't seen much water in a long time."

Seven weeks after the pulse was released, a small amount of Colorado River water combined with high tide at the Sea of Cortez, connecting the two waterways for the first time in 15 years. The flow that did reach the Sea of Cortez had an even more dramatic effect on vegetation.

(The animation above shows the total amount of and health of vegetation in the Colorado River Delta before (August 2013) and after (August 2014) the pulse of Colorado River water was released into the area in March 2014.)

According to NASA, the so-called "inundation zone" -- the stretch of parched earth touched by surface water -- saw a 43 percent increase in green vegetation.

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Scientists will continue studying the growth of vegetation along the area and hope to discover more about how the restored flow impacted wildlife like birds in the coming years.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: 2013 Colorado Floods

Victims of last week's devastating floods retrieve belongings outside a home near the East Platte River east of Greeley, Colo., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. The area's broad agricultural flatlands were especially hard hit by the high water. (AP Photo/John Wark)