Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

ISS011 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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ISS011-E-11428 Mt. Rainier, Washington: A clear summer day over Washington state provided the International Space Station crew the chance to observe Mt. Rainier—a volcano that overlooks the Seattle metropolitan area and the 2.5 million people who live there. In addition to its presence on the Seattle skyline, Mt. Rainier also looms large among volcanoes in the United States.
It is the highest volcano in the Cascades, with an elevation of 4,392 meters (14,411 feet) above sea level at the summit of the Columbia Crest. Emmons Glacier on the eastern slope is the largest glacier in the lower 48 states. Nisqually Glacier has been actively monitored for more than a century, making it the longest-monitored glacier in the United States. Rainier is an active volcano located next to a large population center, supports several large glaciers, and presents the largest volcanic hazard in the country. While the last recorded eruption of Rainier occurred in 1840, the volcano is continuously monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascade Volcano Observatory.
This view shows off Rainier’s spectacular landforms, including details of the approximately 400-meter-diameter (1,280-foot) summit crater and the glaciers that radiate from the summit. The large debris fields that fill the valleys draining the glaciers comprise one of Rainier’s geohazards: potential landslides and debris flows triggered by earthquakes, eruptions, magma-water interactions, or sudden snow or ice melting. Also visible are roads leading to Paradise, an area on the mountain’'s south side that provides ready access to trails and spectacular vistas of the glaciers.

ISS011-E-9756 Dune Patterns, Namib Desert, Namibia: This detailed view of the remote Conception Bay sector of the Namibian coastline shows breakers and a strand plain on the left and complex dunes of the Namib dune sea on the right. A strand plain is a series of dunes, usually associated with and parallel to a beach, sometimes containing small creeks or lakes. The complexity and regularity of dune patterns in the dune sea of the Namib Desert have attracted the attention of geologists for decades; however, they remain poorly understood. The flat strand plain (~4 kilometers shown here) shows a series of wet zones that appear black where seawater seeps inland and evaporates. These patches are aligned with the persistent southerly winds, some of the strongest of any coastal desert.
The southerlies blow sand from the beaches—where it is constantly mobilized by wave action—and pile it up as dunes many tens of feet high. Note how the crests of the dunes, catching the morning light in this view, are aligned in a marked northwest-southeast orientation. These crests form transverse to the formative wind (i.e. crosswise), revealing an interesting feedback with the wind. The dunes act as obstacles, and obstacles cause winds to be deflected significantly to the right, in the southern hemisphere—in effect reorienting the southerly wind as a southwesterly wind. The higher the sand dunes grow, the more this effect comes into play.

ISS011-E-12863 North Antelope Rochelle Coal Mine, Wyoming: The United States’ highest rate of coal production is in Wyoming, with almost 4 million short tons extracted in 2004. The majority of this coal is burned to generate electrical power within the United States, but a small percentage is also goes to Spain and Canada. The Powder River Basin in the northeastern portion of the state is the most productive of Wyoming’s coal fields. The extensive coal deposits - ranging in thickness from 21 to 53 meters (70 to 175 feet) - formed over 38-66 million years ago. The source of organic material for the coal originated in swamps, estuaries, and deltas associated with the regression (retreat) of a large inland seaway that occupied central North America during the Cretaceous Period, which spanned the years between about 144 to 65 million years ago.
Open-pit strip mining is the technique that coal operators prefer for removing the sparsely vegetated surface (overburden in mining terminology) of northeastern Wyoming that covers the coal seams. One of the largest of these mines, Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Complex, is located at the center of this astronaut photograph. A portion of Arch Coal’s Black Thunder Mine Complex is visible to north. Active coal seam faces are visible as black lines, and the stepped benches along the sides of the pit allow access for trucks carrying coal and overburden from the mine. Large draglines and shovels remove the overburden and expose the coal seam; blasting reduces the coal to loadable fragments. The coal is then transported from Wyoming by up to 2000 rail cars per day. Following removal of the coal, mining companies are required by federal law to reclaim and revegetate the former mine workings.

ISS011-E-12148 South Georgia Island: There is no permanent human base on South Georgia Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that lies 1,300 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands. Using a long lens (800-millimeter focal length) and an oblique (from the side) view, the crew of the International Space Station captured the rugged and isolated landscape of the northern shore of the island.
South Georgia Island is notable on several fronts. The first recorded explorer to land on the island was Captain James Cook aboard the HMS Resolution in 1775. He mapped part of the coastline, but was discouraged by the thick ice cover, lack of vegetation, and steep mountains. Mt. Paget, the highest peak, rises to 2,934 meters (9,625 feet) above sea level, and the island supports 161 glaciers. Cook named the southernmost point of the island “Cape Disappointment” when he realized he had not reached Antarctica.
The high mountains protect the north and eastern coast of the island from the prevailing gales coming from Antarctica and the west. The steep topography also makes deep bays along the coast, which provide habitat for wildlife and anchorages for whaling ships. The island supports major rookeries of penguins and albatrosses, and large seal populations. This view centers on Mt. Paget and Cumberland Bay. The former whaling station Grytviken is located within the bay. Today, the encampment supports the scientific base for the British Antarctic Survey and Bird Island Research Station.
Early in the 20th century, the island figured prominently in Sir Earnest Shackleton’s famous expedition to the Antarctic. When his ship the Endurance became trapped in the Weddell Sea, Shackleton sailed back to the southern coast of South Georgia in 1916, scaled the steep mountain spine of the island, tumbled in to the whaling station Stromness (located just west of this image) and went on to rescue his crew. After Shackleton died several years later, his remains were brought here and buried in Grytviken.

ISS011-E-13889 Fall Colors in the Wasatch Range, Utah: The Wasatch Range forms an impressive backdrop to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, and it is a frequent destination for hikers, backpackers, and skiers. The range is considered to be the westernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, and rises to elevations of approximately 3,600 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level. The abundance of streams and building materials (timber and stone) encouraged the earliest Mormon settlers to establish themselves along the western front of the Wasatch Range. Development of the region still occurs mainly along the western mountain front.
The cooling days of autumn find the Wasatch Range clothed in the leaves of deciduous trees turning color. This astronaut photograph, taken at the end of September, captures red- (maple trees) and gold-mantled (aspen trees) hill slopes along the western mountain front to the south of Salt Lake City. Other common tree species at these elevations include pine, fir, spruce, willow, birch, and oak. A portion of Draper City is visible in the left half of the image. The elevation of Lone Peak, visible at upper right, is approximately 3,410 meters (11,253 feet).

ISS011-E-6422 Rosario, Argentina: The Paraná River, in the center of the view, has been the principal transportation artery of central South America since the times of early colonization. Consequently, the river gave rise to the growth of port cities such as Argentina’s second city, Rosario (bottom center), now a major industrial center (pop. > 1.1 million). Rosario is the center of a vibrant local agricultural economy—intensive agriculture is visible on the left margin of the view. As such, Rosario is one of the key cities in South America’s MERCOSUR common market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay). Other cities have expanded along the river bank, especially northward (for example, Capitan Bermudez, top left).
Not only is the region around Rosario targeted for local economic development, but its role as a transportation hub is expanding. Rosario’s port facilities, and facilities along the length of the Paraná-Paraguay River systems (the traditional north-south transport route), have been improved to give efficient river barge access to landlocked regions upstream—Paraguay, Bolivia, and southwestern Brazil—connecting them to Buenos Aires, 300 kilometers to the south. East-west transport connections are becoming increasingly important for MERCOSUR trade, with products from Argentina and southern Brazil moving by road and rail via Rosario to Pacific ports in Chile and then even to Asia.
The great Rosario-Victoria bridge (center), completed in 2002, facilitates this east-west movement of goods. The bridge casts a shadow where it crosses almost 2 kilometers of open river. Viaducts and earth-filled sections continue the new highway to the city of Victoria to the east, another 57 kilometers across the great swamplands of the Paraná floodplain—part of which is visible in the right half of the view. The bridge is one of very few road or rail connections between the east and west banks of South America’s second-largest river. It allows the economic center of Argentina to communicate for the first time directly by road not only with Argentina’s remote northeastern provinces, but also with Uruguay and Brazil.

ISS011-E-6717 Uralsk, Kazakhstan: The approximate boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great, inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the city of Uralsk on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and has been an important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals.
International Space Station astronauts acquired a series of images of Uralsk, highlighting the city under different lighting conditions. This view shows the sunglint (light reflected from the water surface towards the observer) on the rivers, lakes, and ponds of the Ural floodplain (right side of image) and that of a tributary, the Chogan River (bottom). The cityscape of Uralsk, on the headland between the two, is relatively difficult to see because the water and sunglint dominate the scene.

ISS011-E-6712 Uralsk, Kazakhstan: The approximate boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great, inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the city of Uralsk on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and has been an important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals.
International Space Station astronauts acquired a series of images of Uralsk, highlighting the city under different lighting conditions. This view was taken at a vertical angle that was not affected by sunglint. The green, vegetated parts of the floodplains, and black, inundated parts stand out clearly. The brown Ural River waters contrast with the darker color of its tributary, the Chogan River.

ISS011-E-11543 Algodones Dunefield, California: Fans of the Star Wars series of films may recognize the Algodones Dunefield—also known as the Imperial Dunes—as portions of the imaginary planet of Tatooine. While not planetary in scale, this dunefield located at the junction of three states (Arizona and California in the United States; Baja California del Norte in Mexico) is a distinctive feature of North America. The field is approximately 72 kilometers long by 10 kilometers wide (45 miles by 6 miles) and extends along a northwest-southeast line that correlates to the prevailing northerly and westerly wind directions. The dunefield is a wilderness area, with the only human structure being the All American Canal that cuts across the southern portion from west to east (right side of view). A checkerboard pattern of farms in the Colorado River floodplain is visible on the Mexican side of the border (far right). Wisps of cloud obscure the Cargo Muchacho Mountains (top).
Distinctive dune forms visible in this astronaut photograph include transverse megadunes and linear dunes. The transverse dunes, appearing much like a large tank tread along the long axis of the dunefield, are the largest features. They were formed by strong and constant northwesterly winds. A fine pattern of smaller dunes has formed along the crests and windward (northwestern) sides of these large dunes and point to continuing sediment transport activity. Networks of small dunes along the western side of the dunefield suggest that wind direction here is more variable, and perhaps influenced by the large transverse dunes themselves. Long, linear dunes extending northwest-southeast are visible along the western edge of the dunefield.
The presence of vegetated drainage networks along the northeastern border of the dunefield and the relative lack of dunes themselves suggest that dunes are not migrating rapidly along this margin. The majority of dune migration today occurs at a rate of approximately 0.3 meters per year (1 foot per year) along the southeast margin of the dunefield.

ISS011-E-12401 St. Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland: This strongly oblique (from the side) view shows the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in the late afternoon. At this time of day, sunglint—the reflection of sunlight into the camera lens—distinguishes the bodies of water from their surroundings. The image was taken from the International Space Station when the craft orbited north of the Caspian Sea, approximately 2,500 kilometers (1600 miles) to the southeast on the Russia-Kazakhstan border. Lakes in Finland in the middle of the view are 3,000 kilometers (1900 miles) from the camera.
The Neva River appears in sunglint, connecting Lake Ladoga to the gulf. Czar Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg, starting in 1703, on the Neva River Delta. He established this city as his capital and window into Europe via the Baltic Sea. (Although not visible, St. Petersburg—the home town of Sergei Krikalev, Space Station commander when this picture was taken—lies on the Neva River delta.) In this view, taken with a powerful 400-millimeter lens, sunglint even reveals the causeways to Kotlin Island in the gulf—including some of the details of their construction. Oblique views reveal marked layers of gray haze generated by air pollution (top image, top of view), a common sight over Western Europe. Pollution also renders the bright glint areas a coppery color.

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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: Susan Runco

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:

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ISS011-E-11428	Mt. Rainier, Washington: A clear summer day over Washington state provided the International Space Station crew the chance to observe Mt. Rainier—a volcano that overlooks the Seattle metropolitan area and the 2.5 million people who live there. In addition to its presence on the Seattle skyline, Mt. Rainier also looms large among volcanoes in the United States. It is the highest volcano in the Cascades, with an elevation of 4,392 meters (14,411 feet) above sea level at the summit of the Columbia Crest. Emmons Glacier on the eastern slope is the largest glacier in the lower 48 states. Nisqually Glacier has been actively monitored for more than a century, making it the longest-monitored glacier in the United States. Rainier is an active volcano located next to a large population center, supports several large glaciers, and presents the largest volcanic hazard in the country. While the last recorded eruption of Rainier occurred in 1840, the volcano is continuously monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascade Volcano Observatory. This view shows off Rainier’s spectacular landforms, including details of the approximately 400-meter-diameter (1,280-foot) summit crater and the glaciers that radiate from the summit. The large debris fields that fill the valleys draining the glaciers comprise one of Rainier’s geohazards: potential landslides and debris flows triggered by earthquakes, eruptions, magma-water interactions, or sudden snow or ice melting. Also visible are roads leading to Paradise, an area on the mountain’'s south side that provides ready access to trails and spectacular vistas of the glaciers.
ISS011-E-9756	Dune Patterns, Namib Desert, Namibia: This detailed view of the remote Conception Bay sector of the Namibian coastline shows breakers and a strand plain on the left and complex dunes of the Namib dune sea on the right. A strand plain is a series of dunes, usually associated with and parallel to a beach, sometimes containing small creeks or lakes. The complexity and regularity of dune patterns in the dune sea of the Namib Desert have attracted the attention of geologists for decades; however, they remain poorly understood. The flat strand plain (~4 kilometers shown here) shows a series of wet zones that appear black where seawater seeps inland and evaporates. These patches are aligned with the persistent southerly winds, some of the strongest of any coastal desert. The southerlies blow sand from the beaches—where it is constantly mobilized by wave action—and pile it up as dunes many tens of feet high. Note how the crests of the dunes, catching the morning light in this view, are aligned in a marked northwest-southeast orientation. These crests form transverse to the formative wind (i.e. crosswise), revealing an interesting feedback with the wind. The dunes act as obstacles, and obstacles cause winds to be deflected significantly to the right, in the southern hemisphere—in effect reorienting the southerly wind as a southwesterly wind. The higher the sand dunes grow, the more this effect comes into play.
ISS011-E-12863	North Antelope Rochelle Coal Mine, Wyoming: The United States’ highest rate of coal production is in Wyoming, with almost 4 million short tons extracted in 2004. The majority of this coal is burned to generate electrical power within the United States, but a small percentage is also goes to Spain and Canada. The Powder River Basin in the northeastern portion of the state is the most productive of Wyoming’s coal fields. The extensive coal deposits - ranging in thickness from 21 to 53 meters (70 to 175 feet) - formed over 38-66 million years ago. The source of organic material for the coal originated in swamps, estuaries, and deltas associated with the regression (retreat) of a large inland seaway that occupied central North America during the Cretaceous Period, which spanned the years between about 144 to 65 million years ago. Open-pit strip mining is the technique that coal operators prefer for removing the sparsely vegetated surface (overburden in mining terminology) of northeastern Wyoming that covers the coal seams. One of the largest of these mines, Peabody Energy’s North Antelope Rochelle Complex, is located at the center of this astronaut photograph. A portion of Arch Coal’s Black Thunder Mine Complex is visible to north. Active coal seam faces are visible as black lines, and the stepped benches along the sides of the pit allow access for trucks carrying coal and overburden from the mine. Large draglines and shovels remove the overburden and expose the coal seam; blasting reduces the coal to loadable fragments. The coal is then transported from Wyoming by up to 2000 rail cars per day. Following removal of the coal, mining companies are required by federal law to reclaim and revegetate the former mine workings.
ISS011-E-12148	South Georgia Island: There is no permanent human base on South Georgia Island, a British territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that lies 1,300 kilometers east of the Falkland Islands. Using a long lens (800-millimeter focal length) and an oblique (from the side) view, the crew of the International Space Station captured the rugged and isolated landscape of the northern shore of the island. South Georgia Island is notable on several fronts. The first recorded explorer to land on the island was Captain James Cook aboard the HMS Resolution in 1775. He mapped part of the coastline, but was discouraged by the thick ice cover, lack of vegetation, and steep mountains. Mt. Paget, the highest peak, rises to 2,934 meters (9,625 feet) above sea level, and the island supports 161 glaciers. Cook named the southernmost point of the island “Cape Disappointment” when he realized he had not reached Antarctica. The high mountains protect the north and eastern coast of the island from the prevailing gales coming from Antarctica and the west. The steep topography also makes deep bays along the coast, which provide habitat for wildlife and anchorages for whaling ships. The island supports major rookeries of penguins and albatrosses, and large seal populations. This view centers on Mt. Paget and Cumberland Bay. The former whaling station Grytviken is located within the bay. Today, the encampment supports the scientific base for the British Antarctic Survey and Bird Island Research Station. Early in the 20th century, the island figured prominently in Sir Earnest Shackleton’s famous expedition to the Antarctic. When his ship the Endurance became trapped in the Weddell Sea, Shackleton sailed back to the southern coast of South Georgia in 1916, scaled the steep mountain spine of the island, tumbled in to the whaling station Stromness (located just west of this image) and went on to rescue his crew. After Shackleton died several years later, his remains were brought here and buried in Grytviken.
ISS011-E-13889	Fall Colors in the Wasatch Range, Utah: The Wasatch Range forms an impressive backdrop to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, and it is a frequent destination for hikers, backpackers, and skiers. The range is considered to be the westernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, and rises to elevations of approximately 3,600 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level. The abundance of streams and building materials (timber and stone) encouraged the earliest Mormon settlers to establish themselves along the western front of the Wasatch Range. Development of the region still occurs mainly along the western mountain front. The cooling days of autumn find the Wasatch Range clothed in the leaves of deciduous trees turning color. This astronaut photograph, taken at the end of September, captures red- (maple trees) and gold-mantled (aspen trees) hill slopes along the western mountain front to the south of Salt Lake City. Other common tree species at these elevations include pine, fir, spruce, willow, birch, and oak. A portion of Draper City is visible in the left half of the image. The elevation of Lone Peak, visible at upper right, is approximately 3,410 meters (11,253 feet).
ISS011-E-6422	Rosario, Argentina: The Paraná River, in the center of the view, has been the principal transportation artery of central South America since the times of early colonization. Consequently, the river gave rise to the growth of port cities such as Argentina’s second city, Rosario (bottom center), now a major industrial center (pop. > 1.1 million). Rosario is the center of a vibrant local agricultural economy—intensive agriculture is visible on the left margin of the view. As such, Rosario is one of the key cities in South America’s MERCOSUR common market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay). Other cities have expanded along the river bank, especially northward (for example, Capitan Bermudez, top left). Not only is the region around Rosario targeted for local economic development, but its role as a transportation hub is expanding. Rosario’s port facilities, and facilities along the length of the Paraná-Paraguay River systems (the traditional north-south transport route), have been improved to give efficient river barge access to landlocked regions upstream—Paraguay, Bolivia, and southwestern Brazil—connecting them to Buenos Aires, 300 kilometers to the south. East-west transport connections are becoming increasingly important for MERCOSUR trade, with products from Argentina and southern Brazil moving by road and rail via Rosario to Pacific ports in Chile and then even to Asia. The great Rosario-Victoria bridge (center), completed in 2002, facilitates this east-west movement of goods. The bridge casts a shadow where it crosses almost 2 kilometers of open river. Viaducts and earth-filled sections continue the new highway to the city of Victoria to the east, another 57 kilometers across the great swamplands of the Paraná floodplain—part of which is visible in the right half of the view. The bridge is one of very few road or rail connections between the east and west banks of South America’s second-largest river. It allows the economic center of Argentina to communicate for the first time directly by road not only with Argentina’s remote northeastern provinces, but also with Uruguay and Brazil.
ISS011-E-6717	Uralsk, Kazakhstan: The approximate boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great, inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the city of Uralsk on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and has been an important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals. International Space Station astronauts acquired a series of images of Uralsk, highlighting the city under different lighting conditions. This view shows the sunglint (light reflected from the water surface towards the observer) on the rivers, lakes, and ponds of the Ural floodplain (right side of image) and that of a tributary, the Chogan River (bottom). The cityscape of Uralsk, on the headland between the two, is relatively difficult to see because the water and sunglint dominate the scene.
ISS011-E-6712	Uralsk, Kazakhstan: The approximate boundary between Europe and Asia is defined by the Ural River and the Ural Mountains to its north. The Ural River flows to the great, inland Caspian Sea, and gives its name to the city of Uralsk on its banks. Lying just inside the Kazakh border with Russia, Uralsk is an agricultural and industrial center, and has been an important trade stop since the early 1600s. Barge traffic has passed up and down the Ural River between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains for centuries. Today it is one of the major entry points for rail traffic from Europe to Siberia, servicing the many new oil fields in the Caspian basin and the industrial cities of the southern Urals. International Space Station astronauts acquired a series of images of Uralsk, highlighting the city under different lighting conditions. This view was taken at a vertical angle that was not affected by sunglint. The green, vegetated parts of the floodplains, and black, inundated parts stand out clearly. The brown Ural River waters contrast with the darker color of its tributary, the Chogan River.
ISS011-E-11543	Algodones Dunefield, California: Fans of the Star Wars series of films may recognize the Algodones Dunefield—also known as the Imperial Dunes—as portions of the imaginary planet of Tatooine. While not planetary in scale, this dunefield located at the junction of three states (Arizona and California in the United States; Baja California del Norte in Mexico) is a distinctive feature of North America. The field is approximately 72 kilometers long by 10 kilometers wide (45 miles by 6 miles) and extends along a northwest-southeast line that correlates to the prevailing northerly and westerly wind directions. The dunefield is a wilderness area, with the only human structure being the All American Canal that cuts across the southern portion from west to east (right side of view). A checkerboard pattern of farms in the Colorado River floodplain is visible on the Mexican side of the border (far right). Wisps of cloud obscure the Cargo Muchacho Mountains (top). Distinctive dune forms visible in this astronaut photograph include transverse megadunes and linear dunes. The transverse dunes, appearing much like a large tank tread along the long axis of the dunefield, are the largest features. They were formed by strong and constant northwesterly winds. A fine pattern of smaller dunes has formed along the crests and windward (northwestern) sides of these large dunes and point to continuing sediment transport activity. Networks of small dunes along the western side of the dunefield suggest that wind direction here is more variable, and perhaps influenced by the large transverse dunes themselves. Long, linear dunes extending northwest-southeast are visible along the western edge of the dunefield. The presence of vegetated drainage networks along the northeastern border of the dunefield and the relative lack of dunes themselves suggest that dunes are not migrating rapidly along this margin. The majority of dune migration today occurs at a rate of approximately 0.3 meters per year (1 foot per year) along the southeast margin of the dunefield.
ISS011-E-12401	St. Petersburg and the Gulf of Finland: This strongly oblique (from the side) view shows the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in the late afternoon. At this time of day, sunglint—the reflection of sunlight into the camera lens—distinguishes the bodies of water from their surroundings. The image was taken from the International Space Station when the craft orbited north of the Caspian Sea, approximately 2,500 kilometers (1600 miles) to the southeast on the Russia-Kazakhstan border. Lakes in Finland in the middle of the view are 3,000 kilometers (1900 miles) from the camera. The Neva River appears in sunglint, connecting Lake Ladoga to the gulf. Czar Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg, starting in 1703, on the Neva River Delta. He established this city as his capital and window into Europe via the Baltic Sea. (Although not visible, St. Petersburg—the home town of Sergei Krikalev, Space Station commander when this picture was taken—lies on the Neva River delta.) In this view, taken with a powerful 400-millimeter lens, sunglint even reveals the causeways to Kotlin Island in the gulf—including some of the details of their construction. Oblique views reveal marked layers of gray haze generated by air pollution (top image, top of view), a common sight over Western Europe. Pollution also renders the bright glint areas a coppery color.

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: Susan Runco 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:
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