| 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. |
