Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

ISS027 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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ISS027-E-27026 Flooding near New Madrid, Missouri: Along a northward loop of the Mississippi River, near the city of New Madrid, flood water rested on agricultural fields in early May 2011. Taken from an altitude of 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth, this astronaut photo shows muddy water filling a broad swath of cropland north of the river bend. In this image, north is toward the lower right.
Crops normally carpet the landscape north of New Madrid. This portion of Missouri, however, lies near the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway. On May 2, 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breached a levee near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The move spared the residents of Cairo, Illinois, but filled the floodway.

ISS027-E-20395 Avachinsky Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula: The Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, located along the Pacific “ring of fire,” includes more than 100 volcanoes. While most of these volcanoes are not actively erupting, many are considered dangerous due to their eruptive history and their proximity to population centers and air travel corridors. This astronaut photograph highlights the summit crater and snow-covered slopes of the Avachinsky stratovolcano as it pokes above a surrounding cloud deck.
The 2,741 meter (8,993 foot) high Avachinsky volcano has an extensive historical and geological record of eruptions. The latest activity occurred in 2008.
The large city of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, is located approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) to the southwest and is built over approximately 30,000–40,000 year old debris deposits from an avalanche that originated at Avachinsky—suggesting that the city may be at risk from a similar hazard in the future. To the southeast (image right), the large breached crater of Kozelsky Volcano is also visible above the clouds. Kozelsky is a parasitic cone, formed by the eruption of material from vents along the flank of Avachinsky.
The topography of the volcanoes is accentuated by shadows caused by the relatively low sun angle, and by the oblique viewing angle. Oblique images are taken looking outwards from the International Space Station, rather than the “straight down” (or nadir) view typical of most Earth-observing sensors.

ISS027-E-31908 Horseshoe 2 Fire, Arizona: The Horseshoe 2 fire, located along the southeastern flank of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona, began on May 8, 2011, at approximately 11:00 a.m. The fire is thought to have been started by human activities. This astronaut photograph illustrates the area (approximately 8,900 hectares, or 22,110 acres) and position of the fire within the mountains on May 15, 2011, as well as an extensive smoke plume extending to the east-northeast over a distance of at least 60 kilometers (approximately 40 miles). As of May 19, 2011, the fire had burned an area of nearly 14,000 hectares (approximately 34,400 acres) of grasses, shrubs, and trees along the mountain slopes.
The Chiricahua Mountains are included within the Chiricahua National Monument located near the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Elevations in the mountains range from approximately 900 to 3,270 meters (3,000 to 10,720 feet) above sea level. The higher elevations—known regionally as “sky islands”—allow for biologically diverse plant and animal communities, adapted to cooler and wetter conditions, to survive while surrounded by semi-arid to arid desert conditions at lower elevations.
The image highlights this contrast in environments; pine and oak forest contributes to the dark coloration of the upper slopes and peaks of the Chiricahuas at image center, while the flat, gray to tan surface of Willcox Playa (an interior-draining basin or dry lake) to the northwest is indicative of the adjacent desert environment.

ISS027-E-32535 Sediment Plume in Lake Pontchartrain: The Bonnet Carré Spillway delivered a plume of thick sediment to Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain in mid-May 2011. Taken on May 17, 2011, this astronaut photo shows a muddy plume in the lake, as well as the sediment-clogged Mississippi River meandering through the city of New Orleans. Water flowing through the spillway into Lake Pontchartrain is also muddy brown.
The Bonnet Carré Spillway, Morganza Floodway, and breached levee near Cairo, Illinois, all diverted some of the flood waters from the Mississippi River in the spring of 2011. The diversion measures aimed to lessen the damage caused by an unusually severe spring flood season.
The Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) of the U.S. National Weather Service reported that the Mississippi River at New Orleans reached 17.05 feet (5.20 meters) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, 2011. This was just above the flood stage for this location, of 17.0 feet (5.18 meters), and well below the record flood level of 21.3 feet (6.5 meters), set in 1922. The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, meanwhile reached 44.71 meters (13.63 feet) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, the AHPS reported. This qualified as major flooding for the Mississippi at that location, but it was below the record flood level of 47.3 meters (14.4 feet) set in 1927. Mississippi River water levels were projected to remain fairly steady at both locations through May 25, 2011.

ISS027-E-20129 U.S. Atlantic Seaboard at Night: As metropolitan areas expand in both physical area and population, they typically aggregate to form economically, politically and, to some extent, socially linked entities known as conurbations. The term “megalopolis” has also been used.
One of the largest conurbations in the world is located along East Coast of the United States, and has been termed the Atlantic Seaboard Conurbation (ASC). The ASC extends over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) and includes the major economic, governmental, and cultural centers of Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, District of Columbia.
This astronaut photograph includes every metropolitan area in the ASC except for Boston (located off the image to the northeast). This night image highlights the position and extent of each metropolitan area through urban lighting patterns. The establishment and growth of the conurbation was facilitated by transportation networks—railroads, highways, and air travel routes—for the transfer of goods, materials, and population between the cities.
Two other large metropolitan areas are visible in the image—Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, at image lower left—but neither is considered part of the ASC. In contrast to the city lights along the sea coast and interior, the Atlantic Ocean appears as a featureless dark region filling the lower right quarter of the image.

ISS027-E-34290 Ar Rub’ al Khali Sand Sea, Arabian Peninsula: The Ar Rub’ al Khali, also called the “Empty Quarter,” is a large region of sand dunes and interdune flats known as a sand sea or erg. This astronaut photograph highlights a part of the Ar Rub’ al Khali near its southeastern margin, in the Sultanate of Oman.
Large, linear reddish-brown barchanoid-seif dunes alternate with interdune salt flats, or sabkhas. The orientation of the linear dunes lies at a right angle to northwesterly trade winds that originate in Iraq, known as the Shamal winds.
Secondary barchan (crescent-shaped) dunes and star dunes—with crests originating from a single point and stretching in several directions—can form atop the linear dunes when southwesterly winds blow during the monsoon season (Kharif winds). The long, linear dunes begin to break up into isolated large star dunes to the northeast and east (image right). This is likely the result of wind pattern interactions and of changes in the sand supply.
The Empty Quarter covers much of the south-central portion of the Arabian Peninsula, and with an area of approximately 660,000 square kilometers, it is the largest continuous sand desert on Earth. The Empty Quarter was so named because the hyperarid climate and difficulty of travel through the dunes has long discouraged permanent settlement within the region. There is geological and archeological evidence of cooler and wetter climates and human settlements in the region in the past. This evidence includes exposed lakebed sediments, scattered stone tools, and the fossils of hippopotamus, water buffalo, and long-horned cattle.

ISS027-E-33889 Izmir, Turkey: Located in the western Anatolia region of Turkey, Izmir is the country’s third most populous city and its second largest port (after Istanbul). This astronaut photograph highlights the modern urban landscape of the Izmir metropolitan area. In addition to being a major trade center, greater Izmir is a hub for regional tourism.
The Izmir region has included urban areas for almost 3,500 years, and the ancient core of the city was originally known as Smyrna. Due to its location on the Gulf of Izmir (lower left) and its access to the Aegean Sea, Izmir has been an important Mediterranean Sea port for most of its history.
Today, the metropolitan area includes eleven districts, many of which were independent neighborhoods prior to agglomeration into “greater Izmir.” Densely built residential and commercial districts, characterized by gray to reddish gray rooftops, occupy much of the center of the image. Larger structures with bright white rooftops are indicative of commercial/industrial areas near the Izmir Port (image left).
Two large sport complexes, the Atatürk Stadium and Sirinyer Hippodrome (horse racing track) are visible at image upper left and image right. Numerous vegetated parks (green) are located throughout the area.

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ISS027-E-27026	Flooding near New Madrid, Missouri: Along a northward loop of the Mississippi River, near the city of New Madrid, flood water rested on agricultural fields in early May 2011. Taken from an altitude of 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth, this astronaut photo shows muddy water filling a broad swath of cropland north of the river bend. In this image, north is toward the lower right. Crops normally carpet the landscape north of New Madrid. This portion of Missouri, however, lies near the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway. On May 2, 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers breached a levee near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The move spared the residents of Cairo, Illinois, but filled the floodway.
ISS027-E-20395	Avachinsky Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula: The Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, located along the Pacific “ring of fire,” includes more than 100 volcanoes. While most of these volcanoes are not actively erupting, many are considered dangerous due to their eruptive history and their proximity to population centers and air travel corridors. This astronaut photograph highlights the summit crater and snow-covered slopes of the Avachinsky stratovolcano as it pokes above a surrounding cloud deck. The 2,741 meter (8,993 foot) high Avachinsky volcano has an extensive historical and geological record of eruptions. The latest activity occurred in 2008. The large city of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, is located approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) to the southwest and is built over approximately 30,000–40,000 year old debris deposits from an avalanche that originated at Avachinsky—suggesting that the city may be at risk from a similar hazard in the future. To the southeast (image right), the large breached crater of Kozelsky Volcano is also visible above the clouds. Kozelsky is a parasitic cone, formed by the eruption of material from vents along the flank of Avachinsky. The topography of the volcanoes is accentuated by shadows caused by the relatively low sun angle, and by the oblique viewing angle. Oblique images are taken looking outwards from the International Space Station, rather than the “straight down” (or nadir) view typical of most Earth-observing sensors.
ISS027-E-31908	Horseshoe 2 Fire, Arizona: The Horseshoe 2 fire, located along the southeastern flank of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona, began on May 8, 2011, at approximately 11:00 a.m. The fire is thought to have been started by human activities. This astronaut photograph illustrates the area (approximately 8,900 hectares, or 22,110 acres) and position of the fire within the mountains on May 15, 2011, as well as an extensive smoke plume extending to the east-northeast over a distance of at least 60 kilometers (approximately 40 miles). As of May 19, 2011, the fire had burned an area of nearly 14,000 hectares (approximately 34,400 acres) of grasses, shrubs, and trees along the mountain slopes. The Chiricahua Mountains are included within the Chiricahua National Monument located near the borders of Arizona, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Elevations in the mountains range from approximately 900 to 3,270 meters (3,000 to 10,720 feet) above sea level. The higher elevations—known regionally as “sky islands”—allow for biologically diverse plant and animal communities, adapted to cooler and wetter conditions, to survive while surrounded by semi-arid to arid desert conditions at lower elevations. The image highlights this contrast in environments; pine and oak forest contributes to the dark coloration of the upper slopes and peaks of the Chiricahuas at image center, while the flat, gray to tan surface of Willcox Playa (an interior-draining basin or dry lake) to the northwest is indicative of the adjacent desert environment.
ISS027-E-32535	Sediment Plume in Lake Pontchartrain: The Bonnet Carré Spillway delivered a plume of thick sediment to Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain in mid-May 2011. Taken on May 17, 2011, this astronaut photo shows a muddy plume in the lake, as well as the sediment-clogged Mississippi River meandering through the city of New Orleans. Water flowing through the spillway into Lake Pontchartrain is also muddy brown. The Bonnet Carré Spillway, Morganza Floodway, and breached levee near Cairo, Illinois, all diverted some of the flood waters from the Mississippi River in the spring of 2011. The diversion measures aimed to lessen the damage caused by an unusually severe spring flood season. The Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service (AHPS) of the U.S. National Weather Service reported that the Mississippi River at New Orleans reached 17.05 feet (5.20 meters) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, 2011. This was just above the flood stage for this location, of 17.0 feet (5.18 meters), and well below the record flood level of 21.3 feet (6.5 meters), set in 1922. The Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, meanwhile reached 44.71 meters (13.63 feet) at 9:00 a.m. CDT on May 20, the AHPS reported. This qualified as major flooding for the Mississippi at that location, but it was below the record flood level of 47.3 meters (14.4 feet) set in 1927. Mississippi River water levels were projected to remain fairly steady at both locations through May 25, 2011.
ISS027-E-20129	U.S. Atlantic Seaboard at Night: As metropolitan areas expand in both physical area and population, they typically aggregate to form economically, politically and, to some extent, socially linked entities known as conurbations. The term “megalopolis” has also been used. One of the largest conurbations in the world is located along East Coast of the United States, and has been termed the Atlantic Seaboard Conurbation (ASC). The ASC extends over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) and includes the major economic, governmental, and cultural centers of Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; and Washington, District of Columbia. This astronaut photograph includes every metropolitan area in the ASC except for Boston (located off the image to the northeast). This night image highlights the position and extent of each metropolitan area through urban lighting patterns. The establishment and growth of the conurbation was facilitated by transportation networks—railroads, highways, and air travel routes—for the transfer of goods, materials, and population between the cities. Two other large metropolitan areas are visible in the image—Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia, at image lower left—but neither is considered part of the ASC. In contrast to the city lights along the sea coast and interior, the Atlantic Ocean appears as a featureless dark region filling the lower right quarter of the image.
ISS027-E-34290	Ar Rub’ al Khali Sand Sea, Arabian Peninsula: The Ar Rub’ al Khali, also called the “Empty Quarter,” is a large region of sand dunes and interdune flats known as a sand sea or erg. This astronaut photograph highlights a part of the Ar Rub’ al Khali near its southeastern margin, in the Sultanate of Oman. Large, linear reddish-brown barchanoid-seif dunes alternate with interdune salt flats, or sabkhas. The orientation of the linear dunes lies at a right angle to northwesterly trade winds that originate in Iraq, known as the Shamal winds. Secondary barchan (crescent-shaped) dunes and star dunes—with crests originating from a single point and stretching in several directions—can form atop the linear dunes when southwesterly winds blow during the monsoon season (Kharif winds). The long, linear dunes begin to break up into isolated large star dunes to the northeast and east (image right). This is likely the result of wind pattern interactions and of changes in the sand supply. The Empty Quarter covers much of the south-central portion of the Arabian Peninsula, and with an area of approximately 660,000 square kilometers, it is the largest continuous sand desert on Earth. The Empty Quarter was so named because the hyperarid climate and difficulty of travel through the dunes has long discouraged permanent settlement within the region. There is geological and archeological evidence of cooler and wetter climates and human settlements in the region in the past. This evidence includes exposed lakebed sediments, scattered stone tools, and the fossils of hippopotamus, water buffalo, and long-horned cattle.
ISS027-E-33889	Izmir, Turkey: Located in the western Anatolia region of Turkey, Izmir is the country’s third most populous city and its second largest port (after Istanbul). This astronaut photograph highlights the modern urban landscape of the Izmir metropolitan area. In addition to being a major trade center, greater Izmir is a hub for regional tourism. The Izmir region has included urban areas for almost 3,500 years, and the ancient core of the city was originally known as Smyrna. Due to its location on the Gulf of Izmir (lower left) and its access to the Aegean Sea, Izmir has been an important Mediterranean Sea port for most of its history. Today, the metropolitan area includes eleven districts, many of which were independent neighborhoods prior to agglomeration into “greater Izmir.” Densely built residential and commercial districts, characterized by gray to reddish gray rooftops, occupy much of the center of the image. Larger structures with bright white rooftops are indicative of commercial/industrial areas near the Izmir Port (image left). Two large sport complexes, the Atatürk Stadium and Sirinyer Hippodrome (horse racing track) are visible at image upper left and image right. Numerous vegetated parks (green) are located throughout the area.

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:
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