ISS010 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights
TOP PICKS
Click here to view the complete online collection of astronaut photography of Earth >>

ISS010-E-9366
photo ID ISS010-E-9366
ISS010-E-9366         Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
New York's Finger Lakes: A late fall snowstorm frosted the hills of the Finger Lakes region of central New York in early December. Shapes of the snow-covered hills are accented by the low Sun angles, and contrast with the darker, finger-shaped lakes filling the region’s valleys. The steep, roughly parallel valleys and hills of the Finger Lakes region were shaped by advancing and retreating ice sheets that were as much as 2 miles deep during the last ice age (2 million years to about 10,000 years ago). River valleys were scoured into deep troughs; many are now filled with lakes. The two largest lakes, Seneca and Cayuga, are so deep that the base of their lakebeds are below sea level.

The cities of Rochester, Syracuse, and Ithaca are included in this field-of-view, taken from the International Space Station. These three cities enjoy large seasonal snowpacks, thanks to the influence of the Great Lakes producing lake-effect snowstorms. Despite its reputation for long winters, the region is balmy compared with the glacial climate present when the landscape was carved. At the time of the greatest ice extent, yearly average temperatures over northern North America were several degrees lower than today.

< Back
This server is scheduled to be off starting the evening of Thursday October 10 and ending the morning of Tuesday October 15 to accommodate a scheduled power outage.
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." .
Crew Earth Observations NASA meatball
Server: 1