Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

ISS008 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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ISS008-E-15491 Mount Baker, Washington—a Hazardous Beauty: The Cascade Range is an arc of volcanoes that extends from southwestern British Columbia to northern California. One of the six major composite volcanoes (formed by alternating layers of extruded lava and compacted ash) is Mount Baker in northern Washington. Close to the Canadian border, Mount Baker is about 85 miles north-northeast of Seattle and 65 miles southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. This beautiful, snow-capped peak dominates the skyline from Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, and offers multiple recreational opportunities to visitors and locals alike.
The life-threatening and destructive hazards of composite volcanoes include their tephra (ejected ash and rocks), lava flows, lahars (a mudslide composed of volcanic ash and debris saturated with water, often from glacial melt), and debris avalanches. Modern Mount Baker itself is a relatively young volcano (10,000-30,000 years old), but no eruptions have been observed since the mid-1800s. However, a steam plume is often observed from Sherman Crater at the summit (10,778 feet), occasionally alarming local residents. A marked increase in plume activity accompanied by unusual snowmelt led to the temporary closure of Baker Lake by the National Park Service in 1975.
This two photograph was taken from the International Space Station. This view provides details of the rough terrain near the summit and on the upper flanks, while ISS008-E-15493 provides a regional picture of Mount Baker, showing its proximity to Bellingham.

ISS008-E-15493 Mount Baker, Washington—a Hazardous Beauty: The Cascade Range is an arc of volcanoes that extends from southwestern British Columbia to northern California. One of the six major composite volcanoes (formed by alternating layers of extruded lava and compacted ash) is Mount Baker in northern Washington. Close to the Canadian border, Mount Baker is about 85 miles north-northeast of Seattle and 65 miles southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. This beautiful, snow-capped peak dominates the skyline from Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, and offers multiple recreational opportunities to visitors and locals alike.
The life-threatening and destructive hazards of composite volcanoes include their tephra (ejected ash and rocks), lava flows, lahars (a mudslide composed of volcanic ash and debris saturated with water, often from glacial melt), and debris avalanches. Modern Mount Baker itself is a relatively young volcano (10,000-30,000 years old), but no eruptions have been observed since the mid-1800s. However, a steam plume is often observed from Sherman Crater at the summit (10,778 feet), occasionally alarming local residents. A marked increase in plume activity accompanied by unusual snowmelt led to the temporary closure of Baker Lake by the National Park Service in 1975.
This two photograph was taken from the International Space Station. ISS008-E-15491 provides details of the rough terrain near the summit and on the upper flanks. This view provides a regional picture of Mount Baker, showing its proximity to Bellingham.

ISS008-E-14686 Greenhouses of the Campo de Dalías, Almería Province, Spain: The sunny south of Spain offers more to the national economy than simply tourism. Over the past 50 years, the small coastal plain (campo), some 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Almería, has been intensively developed for agriculture. An estimated 20,000 hecatres of extra-early market produce is grown in greenhouses in the Campo de Dalías, and it accounts for over $1.5 billion in economic activity. The area has a dry, mild, Mediterranean climate and is further sheltered on the north by the Sierra de Gador mountains. With just slightly more than 200 millimeters of annual precipitation to support crop growth, the area also relies on groundwater fed by small stream aquifers from the mountains to the north.
This image was taken with a digital camera by the crew of the International Space Station near midday in early February. Note the dense, bright pattern of thousands of greenhouses extending from the shoreline right up to the base of the mountains and even into some of the smaller valleys. Salt pan operations can also be seen in the long coastal lagoons.

ISS008-E-21752 Istanbul, Turkey: The Crossroads of Europe and Asia: This metropolis of 15 million people occupies both sides of the entrance to the narrow, 20-mile long Bosporus Strait connecting the Mediterranean and Sea of Marmara (south) to the Black Sea (north). From its founding as Byzantium by the Greeks in 600 B.C., this strategically located city has been a focus of maritime trade and commerce as well as an outpost and threshold for cultural exchange and conflict between Europe and Asia. The modern city’s layout and architecture show the influences of both the Roman-Byzantine era when it became Constantinople, the world’s first Christian capital, as well as that of the conquering Ottoman Turks, from 1453, when it became the seat of the world’s largest Muslim Empire. Today Istanbul is Turkey’s economic capital and home to nearly half the country’s wealth.
This digital camera image was taken by the crew of the International Space Station on April 16, 2004. When this image was taken, strong currents carried turbid coastal waters from the Black Sea through the Strait and into the Sea of Marmara. The rugged uplands to the north of the city are forested and contain vital reservoirs. Note Ataturk airport southwest of the city near the bottom of the image, the picturesque Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, and the sinuous waterway and harbor on the western shore known as the Golden Horn.

ISS008-E-19273 Mumbai, India: With almost 23 million residents, Mumbai, India, is the second largest city in the world (only Tokyo, Japan, is larger than Mumbai). Rapid population growth in Mumbai is evident in this image from the International Space Station that shows several regions of the city with active land reclamation activities on its coasts, bays and hinterlands. Mumbai exemplifies the global urban growth and sprawl seen in recent years as human populations throughout the world continue to migrate to cities. The UN reports that 48 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2003. CNN quotes the report as saying that the proportion of urban-to-rural dwellers is “expected to exceed the 50 percent mark by 2007, thus marking the first time in history that the world will have more urban residents than rural residents.”
Historically, this region was called “Mumba” after local deity “Mumbadevi” and consisted of seven islands joined together by series of reclamations. In 1543, the region fell to the Portuguese who named their possession “Bom Baia,” which translates as “good bay.” In 1662, the English King Charles II received these islands as a dowry on his marriage to the Portuguese princess, and the islands acquired the name “Bombay.” In recent years, the city has reclaimed its local name “Mumbai.”
Hailed as India’s financial capital and center of her film industry, Mumbai is a city that reflects modern progress and potential. Nariman Point is the hub of economic and financial activity; its skyline has often been compared to Manhattan’s. Mumbai’s docklands comprise the largest port in the entire subcontinent and handle over 25 percent of India’s international trade. But the rapid growth also results in growing public health issues such as air pollution. Adjacent to the commercial sector is Asia’s largest slum, known as Dharavi. It is noteworthy that Dharavi has its own industrial and handicraft trade that annually contributes about one billion dollars to Mumbai’s economy. New urbanized areas such as Vashi, New Bombay, Vasai, and Mahim Creek are being developed to ease this congestion and provide space for new suburbs and industrial parks.

ISS008-E-20656 Kiev, Ukraine: Last week, The International Space Station Expedition 8 crew took a series of images of the Ukrainian city of Kiev on a reservoir on the Dneiper River. Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and home to nearly 3 million people.
Kiev is rich in the history of western civilization. It was a trade center on the Baltic-Black Sea route in the 11th and 12th centuries, and one of the major cities in the Christian world, until Mongol invaders destroyed the city in 1240. Some of the 11th-century cathedrals, which contain famous artifacts, remain standing and have been restored. Throughout the Middle Ages, Kiev suffered through different occupations, but rose to be the center of Russian Orthodox Christianity by the 1800s. This cosmopolitan city was again largely destroyed during World War II. Despite its turbulent history, many of Kiev’s world famous artifacts have been rebuilt, and the city is prominent as a cultural center.

ISS008-E-19233 Betsiboka Estuary, Madagascar: The Betsiboka Estuary on the northwest coast of Madagascar is the mouth of Madagascar’s largest river and one of the world’s fast-changing coastlines. Nearly a century of extensive logging of Madagascar’s rainforests and coastal mangroves has resulted in nearly complete clearing of the land and fantastic rates of erosion. After every heavy rain, the bright red soils are washed from the hillsides into the streams and rivers to the coast. Astronauts describe their view of Madagascar as “bleeding into the ocean.” One impact of the extensive 20th century erosion is the filling and clogging of coastal waterways with sediment—a process that is well illustrated in the Betsiboka estuary. In fact, ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka estuary, but must now berth at the coast.
A bad situation is made worse when tropical storms bring severe rainfall, greatly accelerating the rates of erosion. As an illustration, astronauts aboard the International Space Station documented widespread flooding and a massive red sediment plume flowing into the Bestiboka estuary and the ocean in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gafilo, which hit northern Madagascar on March 7th and 8th, 2004 (top image). A comparative image (bottom) taken in September 2003 shows normal water levels in the estuary.
Despite the heavy coastal flooding in the top image, new coastal developments can be seen. The Mahajanga Aquaculture Development Project, a joint venture between Madagascar and the Japan International Cooperative Agency, strings along the coastal region at the mouth of the estuary (inset images). This project is a shrimp farm and has been developed since 1999. Successive images taken by astronauts show increasing numbers of ponds constructed between 2000 and the present. Coastal aquaculture projects are frequently controversial, pitting the protection and viability of coastal ecosystems (especially rapidly disappearing mangrove environments), against badly needed industry in developing countries.

ISS008-E-19646 "Hurricane” Catarina hits Brazil: Until this past week only two tropical cyclones had ever been noted in the South Atlantic Basin, and no hurricanes. However, late last week, a circulation center well off the coast of southern Brazil developed tropical cyclone characteristics and continued to intensify as it moved westward. The system developed an eye and apparently reached hurricane strength on Friday, March 28, before eventually making landfall late on Saturday, March 27, 2004.
The crew of the International Space Station was notified of the cyclone and acquired excellent photographs of the storm just as it made landfall on the southern Brazilian state of Catarina (the storm has been unofficially dubbed “Hurricane Catarina”). Note the clockwise circulation of Southern Hemisphere cyclones, the well-defined banding features, and the eyewall of at least a Category 1 system. The coastline is visible under the clouds in the upper left corner of the image.
Additional images of this Rare South Atlantic Tropical Cyclone are in the Earth Observatory Natural Hazards section.

ISS008-E-13304 On Top of the World: Everest and Makalu: Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have a unique view of the world because of their position in a low orbit (200 nautical miles, 360 km) relative to satellites and their ability to look at any angle out the windows of the spacecraft. ISS crewmembers recently took advantage of their vantage point to photograph a series of oblique views of the Himalayas looking south from over the Tibetan Plateau. At first glance, one might think that the image looks like a picture taken from an airplane, until you remember that the summits of Makalu [left (8,462 meters; 27,765 feet)] and Everest [right (8,850 meters; 29,035 feet)] are at the heights typically flown by commercial aircraft. The full mosaic covers over 130 kilometers (80 miles) of the Himalayan front, and could never be seen this way from an airplane.
The image is part of a larger panorama mosaic of the Himalayas that can be interactively viewed. The popular Find Mt. Everest feature is used to train astronauts to be able to find the peak in a few seconds as they pass over the Himalayas.

ISS008-E-18202 Central Africa Dust Storm: This image was taken from the International Space Station on March 8, 2004, from a position about 1400 kilometers off the coast of Mauritania (about 600 kilometers west of the Cape Verde Islands). Looking northwest, this image shows the dusty Saharan airmass in the lower third of the view, with clear air beyond a marked northeast-trending boundary. The dust is blowing west southwest, parallel to the front—a common trajectory during northern winters. The width of the dust column was about 1800 kilometers, of which only 200 kilometers is seen here.

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ISS008-E-15491	Mount Baker, Washington—a Hazardous Beauty: The Cascade Range is an arc of volcanoes that extends from southwestern British Columbia to northern California. One of the six major composite volcanoes (formed by alternating layers of extruded lava and compacted ash) is Mount Baker in northern Washington. Close to the Canadian border, Mount Baker is about 85 miles north-northeast of Seattle and 65 miles southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. This beautiful, snow-capped peak dominates the skyline from Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, and offers multiple recreational opportunities to visitors and locals alike. The life-threatening and destructive hazards of composite volcanoes include their tephra (ejected ash and rocks), lava flows, lahars (a mudslide composed of volcanic ash and debris saturated with water, often from glacial melt), and debris avalanches. Modern Mount Baker itself is a relatively young volcano (10,000-30,000 years old), but no eruptions have been observed since the mid-1800s. However, a steam plume is often observed from Sherman Crater at the summit (10,778 feet), occasionally alarming local residents. A marked increase in plume activity accompanied by unusual snowmelt led to the temporary closure of Baker Lake by the National Park Service in 1975. This two photograph was taken from the International Space Station. This view provides details of the rough terrain near the summit and on the upper flanks, while ISS008-E-15493 provides a regional picture of Mount Baker, showing its proximity to Bellingham.
ISS008-E-15493	Mount Baker, Washington—a Hazardous Beauty: The Cascade Range is an arc of volcanoes that extends from southwestern British Columbia to northern California. One of the six major composite volcanoes (formed by alternating layers of extruded lava and compacted ash) is Mount Baker in northern Washington. Close to the Canadian border, Mount Baker is about 85 miles north-northeast of Seattle and 65 miles southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. This beautiful, snow-capped peak dominates the skyline from Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, and offers multiple recreational opportunities to visitors and locals alike. The life-threatening and destructive hazards of composite volcanoes include their tephra (ejected ash and rocks), lava flows, lahars (a mudslide composed of volcanic ash and debris saturated with water, often from glacial melt), and debris avalanches. Modern Mount Baker itself is a relatively young volcano (10,000-30,000 years old), but no eruptions have been observed since the mid-1800s. However, a steam plume is often observed from Sherman Crater at the summit (10,778 feet), occasionally alarming local residents. A marked increase in plume activity accompanied by unusual snowmelt led to the temporary closure of Baker Lake by the National Park Service in 1975. This two photograph was taken from the International Space Station. ISS008-E-15491 provides details of the rough terrain near the summit and on the upper flanks. This view provides a regional picture of Mount Baker, showing its proximity to Bellingham.
ISS008-E-14686	Greenhouses of the Campo de Dalías, Almería Province, Spain: The sunny south of Spain offers more to the national economy than simply tourism. Over the past 50 years, the small coastal plain (campo), some 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Almería, has been intensively developed for agriculture. An estimated 20,000 hecatres of extra-early market produce is grown in greenhouses in the Campo de Dalías, and it accounts for over $1.5 billion in economic activity. The area has a dry, mild, Mediterranean climate and is further sheltered on the north by the Sierra de Gador mountains. With just slightly more than 200 millimeters of annual precipitation to support crop growth, the area also relies on groundwater fed by small stream aquifers from the mountains to the north. This image was taken with a digital camera by the crew of the International Space Station near midday in early February. Note the dense, bright pattern of thousands of greenhouses extending from the shoreline right up to the base of the mountains and even into some of the smaller valleys. Salt pan operations can also be seen in the long coastal lagoons.
ISS008-E-21752	Istanbul, Turkey: The Crossroads of Europe and Asia: This metropolis of 15 million people occupies both sides of the entrance to the narrow, 20-mile long Bosporus Strait connecting the Mediterranean and Sea of Marmara (south) to the Black Sea (north). From its founding as Byzantium by the Greeks in 600 B.C., this strategically located city has been a focus of maritime trade and commerce as well as an outpost and threshold for cultural exchange and conflict between Europe and Asia. The modern city’s layout and architecture show the influences of both the Roman-Byzantine era when it became Constantinople, the world’s first Christian capital, as well as that of the conquering Ottoman Turks, from 1453, when it became the seat of the world’s largest Muslim Empire. Today Istanbul is Turkey’s economic capital and home to nearly half the country’s wealth. This digital camera image was taken by the crew of the International Space Station on April 16, 2004. When this image was taken, strong currents carried turbid coastal waters from the Black Sea through the Strait and into the Sea of Marmara. The rugged uplands to the north of the city are forested and contain vital reservoirs. Note Ataturk airport southwest of the city near the bottom of the image, the picturesque Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, and the sinuous waterway and harbor on the western shore known as the Golden Horn.
ISS008-E-19273	Mumbai, India: With almost 23 million residents, Mumbai, India, is the second largest city in the world (only Tokyo, Japan, is larger than Mumbai). Rapid population growth in Mumbai is evident in this image from the International Space Station that shows several regions of the city with active land reclamation activities on its coasts, bays and hinterlands. Mumbai exemplifies the global urban growth and sprawl seen in recent years as human populations throughout the world continue to migrate to cities. The UN reports that 48 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 2003. CNN quotes the report as saying that the proportion of urban-to-rural dwellers is “expected to exceed the 50 percent mark by 2007, thus marking the first time in history that the world will have more urban residents than rural residents.” Historically, this region was called “Mumba” after local deity “Mumbadevi” and consisted of seven islands joined together by series of reclamations. In 1543, the region fell to the Portuguese who named their possession “Bom Baia,” which translates as “good bay.” In 1662, the English King Charles II received these islands as a dowry on his marriage to the Portuguese princess, and the islands acquired the name “Bombay.” In recent years, the city has reclaimed its local name “Mumbai.” Hailed as India’s financial capital and center of her film industry, Mumbai is a city that reflects modern progress and potential. Nariman Point is the hub of economic and financial activity; its skyline has often been compared to Manhattan’s. Mumbai’s docklands comprise the largest port in the entire subcontinent and handle over 25 percent of India’s international trade. But the rapid growth also results in growing public health issues such as air pollution. Adjacent to the commercial sector is Asia’s largest slum, known as Dharavi. It is noteworthy that Dharavi has its own industrial and handicraft trade that annually contributes about one billion dollars to Mumbai’s economy. New urbanized areas such as Vashi, New Bombay, Vasai, and Mahim Creek are being developed to ease this congestion and provide space for new suburbs and industrial parks.
ISS008-E-20656	Kiev, Ukraine: Last week, The International Space Station Expedition 8 crew took a series of images of the Ukrainian city of Kiev on a reservoir on the Dneiper River. Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and home to nearly 3 million people. Kiev is rich in the history of western civilization. It was a trade center on the Baltic-Black Sea route in the 11th and 12th centuries, and one of the major cities in the Christian world, until Mongol invaders destroyed the city in 1240. Some of the 11th-century cathedrals, which contain famous artifacts, remain standing and have been restored. Throughout the Middle Ages, Kiev suffered through different occupations, but rose to be the center of Russian Orthodox Christianity by the 1800s. This cosmopolitan city was again largely destroyed during World War II. Despite its turbulent history, many of Kiev’s world famous artifacts have been rebuilt, and the city is prominent as a cultural center.
ISS008-E-19233	Betsiboka Estuary, Madagascar: The Betsiboka Estuary on the northwest coast of Madagascar is the mouth of Madagascar’s largest river and one of the world’s fast-changing coastlines. Nearly a century of extensive logging of Madagascar’s rainforests and coastal mangroves has resulted in nearly complete clearing of the land and fantastic rates of erosion. After every heavy rain, the bright red soils are washed from the hillsides into the streams and rivers to the coast. Astronauts describe their view of Madagascar as “bleeding into the ocean.” One impact of the extensive 20th century erosion is the filling and clogging of coastal waterways with sediment—a process that is well illustrated in the Betsiboka estuary. In fact, ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka estuary, but must now berth at the coast. A bad situation is made worse when tropical storms bring severe rainfall, greatly accelerating the rates of erosion. As an illustration, astronauts aboard the International Space Station documented widespread flooding and a massive red sediment plume flowing into the Bestiboka estuary and the ocean in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Gafilo, which hit northern Madagascar on March 7th and 8th, 2004 (top image). A comparative image (bottom) taken in September 2003 shows normal water levels in the estuary. Despite the heavy coastal flooding in the top image, new coastal developments can be seen. The Mahajanga Aquaculture Development Project, a joint venture between Madagascar and the Japan International Cooperative Agency, strings along the coastal region at the mouth of the estuary (inset images). This project is a shrimp farm and has been developed since 1999. Successive images taken by astronauts show increasing numbers of ponds constructed between 2000 and the present. Coastal aquaculture projects are frequently controversial, pitting the protection and viability of coastal ecosystems (especially rapidly disappearing mangrove environments), against badly needed industry in developing countries.
ISS008-E-19646	"Hurricane” Catarina hits Brazil: Until this past week only two tropical cyclones had ever been noted in the South Atlantic Basin, and no hurricanes. However, late last week, a circulation center well off the coast of southern Brazil developed tropical cyclone characteristics and continued to intensify as it moved westward. The system developed an eye and apparently reached hurricane strength on Friday, March 28, before eventually making landfall late on Saturday, March 27, 2004. The crew of the International Space Station was notified of the cyclone and acquired excellent photographs of the storm just as it made landfall on the southern Brazilian state of Catarina (the storm has been unofficially dubbed “Hurricane Catarina”). Note the clockwise circulation of Southern Hemisphere cyclones, the well-defined banding features, and the eyewall of at least a Category 1 system. The coastline is visible under the clouds in the upper left corner of the image. Additional images of this Rare South Atlantic Tropical Cyclone are in the Earth Observatory Natural Hazards section.
ISS008-E-13304	On Top of the World: Everest and Makalu: Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have a unique view of the world because of their position in a low orbit (200 nautical miles, 360 km) relative to satellites and their ability to look at any angle out the windows of the spacecraft. ISS crewmembers recently took advantage of their vantage point to photograph a series of oblique views of the Himalayas looking south from over the Tibetan Plateau. At first glance, one might think that the image looks like a picture taken from an airplane, until you remember that the summits of Makalu [left (8,462 meters; 27,765 feet)] and Everest [right (8,850 meters; 29,035 feet)] are at the heights typically flown by commercial aircraft. The full mosaic covers over 130 kilometers (80 miles) of the Himalayan front, and could never be seen this way from an airplane. The image is part of a larger panorama mosaic of the Himalayas that can be interactively viewed. The popular Find Mt. Everest feature is used to train astronauts to be able to find the peak in a few seconds as they pass over the Himalayas.
ISS008-E-18202	Central Africa Dust Storm: This image was taken from the International Space Station on March 8, 2004, from a position about 1400 kilometers off the coast of Mauritania (about 600 kilometers west of the Cape Verde Islands). Looking northwest, this image shows the dusty Saharan airmass in the lower third of the view, with clear air beyond a marked northeast-trending boundary. The dust is blowing west southwest, parallel to the front—a common trajectory during northern winters. The width of the dust column was about 1800 kilometers, of which only 200 kilometers is seen here.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate. Recommended Citation: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." .
	NASA Responsible Official: Tracy Calhoun Curator: jsc-earthweb@mail.nasa.gov Contributors: Earth Sciences Web Team	National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center	International Space Station National Laboratory Last Update:
Server: 1