Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

ISS006 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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ISS006-E-45591 Kulunda Steppe, Western Siberia, Russia: The dark spikes slashing across this agricultural area between the Ob River and the Irtysh River (out of the view left) form a familiar visual cue for astronauts that they are flying over Western Siberia. The signature pattern across the center is made by forests in a great plain that has been folded by tectonic forces—the surface rock layers form a long series of gentle folds aligned NE-SW. The lower zones are darker because the snow disappears through the Scotch pine trees. The higher areas are occupied by numerous angular fields of the steppe, etched by snow.
The Ob is a major river of Siberia, draining from the Altai Mountains on the borders of western China and Mongolia in central Asia, thousands of miles to the Arctic Ocean. Great bends in a 300-km stretch of the Ob River appear on the right side of this north-looking view image (taken with a 50 mm lens, April 10, 2003).
The major Siberian city of Barnaul is the dark patch on a sharp bend in the Ob River (right margin). Barnaul is a major industrial and cultural center, but began as one of Russia’s most famous two mining cities, having supplied hundreds of tons of silver to the imperial coffers since the mid 1700s. Barnaul lies 200 km south of Novosibirsk, one of the most important cities on the Trans-Siberian railroad.

ISS006-E-45935 Above and Under the Red Sea: This unique photograph of shallow Red Sea waters off the coast of Saudi Arabia gives us a glimpse of both the coral reefs under the surface, and the texture and movements of surface waters. On the left side of the image we see through the water column to the reefs below the surface. On the right side of the image, the sun reflects off of microscopic oily films formed by a combination of natural biological sources and human activities on the sea surface (visit Oceanography from the Space Shuttle for more info). The films are concentrated by surface water movements and variably dampen surface capillary waves, which effect how the sun’s light is reflected. This creates patterns of brighter and darker reflections when viewed from orbit. These patterns trace the complex surface water dynamics along the coast.
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden include over 17,400 km2 of coral reefs, or 6% of the world’s total (World Atlas of Coral Reefs). The World Resources Institute has estimated that 60% of the reefs in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf are threatened by coastal development, overfishing, and the threat of oil spills by the heavy tanker traffic. The stretch of reefs shown here is near Qutu Island, south of Al-Qunfudhah, and is relatively isolated compared to other reefs in the region.

ISS006-E-44689 São Paulo, Brazil, at Night: A favorite activity of astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station is looking at the city lights below when the Station crosses the Earth’s dark side. The lights outline the densest population centers and coastlines, and suggest cultural patterns. Taking these low-light images using the equipment on board the Station has been challenging to the crew members because of the long exposure times required. Astronaut Don Pettit, who leaves the station for Earth today (May 3, 2003), has pioneered an approach using a home-made tracking system to track the ground as it moves relative to the Station, allowing him to acquire long-exposure images under low light conditions. Don’s ingenious “Barn-Door Tracker” is a camera mount with a rigged with a hand drill to create a motion tracking system (see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/24mar_noseprints.htm for a description).
This image shows the sprawling urban footprint of São Paulo, Brazil, South America’s largest city with roughly 17 million people. The different colors (pink, white, and gray) define different types and generations of streetlights. The port of Santos, on the right side of the photograph, is also well defined by lights.

ISS006-E-33736 Smog in the Northern Adriatic Sea: The boot of Italy crosses the image in this southwest-looking view taken by the crew of the International Space Station. The spine of Italy is highlighted with snow and the largely cloud-covered Mediterranean Sea is at the top. The Adriatic Sea transverses most of the bottom of the image and Sicily appears top left beyond the toe of the boot (red arrow). The heel lies out of the left side of the image. Corsica and Sardinia appear right of center partly under cloud.
The floor of the Po River valley, lower right, is obscured by haze. Experience gained from similar haze events, in which atmospheric pressure, humidity and visibility and atmospheric chemistry were known, suggests that the haze is industrial smog. Industrial haze from the urban region of the central and upper Po valley accumulates to visible concentrations under conditions of high atmospheric pressure and the surrounding mountains prevent easy dispersal. This view illustrates the markedly different color and texture of cloud versus industrial aerosol haze.
The flow pattern is typical of that seen on most Shuttle flights since the early 1980s and often recorded on film, that is of slow transport of the smog-rich airmass eastward into the Adriatic basin. This is the easiest and largest exit for haze moving away from the industrial region. The sharp seaward edge of the coherent plume of haze parallels the coastline of Italy—the coast can be discerned through the haze, from Venice (lower right) as far as the Gargano Peninsula (left margin, partly hidden under cloud). Note how there is sufficient lift along this seaward edge to generate a small cloud.
There appears to be a smaller haze mass accumulating on the east side of the Apennines between Naples and Cassino (yellow arrows).

ISS006-E-33901 A Danish Perspecive: The Kingdom of Denmark, with an area of 16,639 square miles, consists of the Jutland Peninsula and roughly 500 islands. It is also a part of the generally fertile and mostly agricultural region known as the North European Plain. This entire region is generally flat to slightly rolling and is overlain with deposits of Pleistocene glaciers. (The Pleistocene lasted from 1.8 million to 11,000 years ago, during which time several ice ages occured.)
Taking advantage of remarkably fair weather over north central Europe for this time of year, the crew of the International Space Station took this panoramic view that extends from the North Sea coast of the Netherlands on the left to the Baltic Sea shores of Sweden on the right. The late-winter landscape has little snow cover except over northeastern Germany, Sweden, and the rugged mountains of Norway. Such images, composed by astronauts, provide unique, synoptic perspectives of the Earth’s geography and natural processes.

ISS006-E-18382 New York City and East Coast City Lights: Bright city lights along the coastline and interior delineate the eastern coast of the United States at night. Known as the “city that never sleeps,” New York City with its population of more than 8 million residents (in 2000) is the largest and brightest metropolitan area along the coast. The metropolitan area straddles the Hudson River and spreads eastward over Long Island. Philadelphia is the second largest city in this image, situated south of New York (lower left in this scene). One of the most richly historic of U.S. cities, Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
The crew of the International Space Station took this image from a vantage point well to the northeast of the cities, with the camera pointed westward back towards New York City and the coast. The result is that the perspective is highly distorted but still recognizable. Low clouds have formed over the waters of the Atlantic and have settled into some of the valleys of the Appalachian Mountains to the northwest.

ISS006-E-36913 Los Angeles at Night: After sunset the borders of “The City of Angels” are defined as much by its dark terrain features as by its well-lit grid of streets and freeways. Over 13 million people inhabit the coastal basin bounded roughly by the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains to the north and the Chino Hills and Santa Ana Mountains to the east and southeast.
The crew of the International Space Station took this unique image shortly after 1 a.m. local time on March 10, 2003. Both the glitter and sprawl of America’s second largest city as well as a number of its renowned landmarks are highly visible. In the north, Hollywood is nestled against the south side of the Santa Monica Mountains. On the coast, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the port facilities at Long Beach Naval Shipyards are bright spots. Finally, even at this time of night, the bright lights of Disneyland in Anaheim are a standout feature.

ISS006-E-29393 Lake Michigan Ice: A colder than normal North American winter saw the entire surface areas of Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie frozen over for the first time in years. The cold has delayed the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and will likely delay the start of the growing season near the Great Lake shorelines. Although the open surface waters of Lake Michigan did not freeze this season, the southern portion experienced a higher than normal amount of ice. Winds and currents drove broken pieces of ice from the north to the south.
This image taken from the International Space Station shows a number of large pieces of ice collected along and just off the shoreline southwest of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Smaller pieces trail northward offshore from Chicago, Illinois. Note the ice accumulation along the entire eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan as well as the wind-drive lake-effect snow cover over the western half of the lower Michigan Peninsula.

ISS006-E-28359 Page, Arizona: This isolated community near the northern Arizona border is of special interest because of its origin and location. Unlike other towns in the area, Page was created in 1957 to house workers and their families during the construction of nearby Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. Its 17-square-mile site was obtained in a land exchange with the Navajo Indian tribe. The town is perched atop Manson Mesa at an elevation of 4,300 feet above sea level and 600 feet above Lake Powell.
After the dam was completed in the 1960s, the town grew steadily to today’s population of 6,200. Because of the new roads and bridge built for use during construction, it has become the gateway to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell, attracting more than 3 million visitors per year. Page is also the home of two of the largest electrical generation units in the western United States. Glen Canyon Dam has a 1,288,000 kilowatts capacity when fully online. The other power plant to the southeast is the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired steam plant with an output capability of 2,250,000 kilowatts.

ISS006-E-24987 Buenos Aires at Night: Buenos Aires is one of the larger cities seen by orbiting crews. Twelve million people, almost one third of all Argentines, live in this city, often called the Paris of the South. Taken very early on the morning of Saturday, February 8, 2003, from the International Space Station with the handheld eclectronic still camera, this remarkably clear image shows the lights of Argentina’s capital city.
Brightness of the lights exactly represents the density of the urban population, which declines all the way to the blackness of the farmlands that surround the city. The brightest area is the old part of the city centered on the port and the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. The blackest part of the scene is the River Plate, the great estuary of the Atlantic Ocean on which this port city is located.
The widest city thoroughfare in the world—the Avenida 9 de Julio with four major roads running parallel, separated by grassy swards—is the brightest line in the downtown cluster. It appears as the longest north-south strip just inland of the port. Four major highways can be seen diverging from the city center. These highways may be more visible due to the well-known late-night traffic of weekend Buenos Aires. The inner part of Buenos Aires is the Federal Capital district, outlined by the great boulevard, Avenida General Paz. The straight segments of this boulevard angle around the north and west sides of the city.

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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:

Server: 1

ISS006-E-45591	Kulunda Steppe, Western Siberia, Russia: The dark spikes slashing across this agricultural area between the Ob River and the Irtysh River (out of the view left) form a familiar visual cue for astronauts that they are flying over Western Siberia. The signature pattern across the center is made by forests in a great plain that has been folded by tectonic forces—the surface rock layers form a long series of gentle folds aligned NE-SW. The lower zones are darker because the snow disappears through the Scotch pine trees. The higher areas are occupied by numerous angular fields of the steppe, etched by snow. The Ob is a major river of Siberia, draining from the Altai Mountains on the borders of western China and Mongolia in central Asia, thousands of miles to the Arctic Ocean. Great bends in a 300-km stretch of the Ob River appear on the right side of this north-looking view image (taken with a 50 mm lens, April 10, 2003). The major Siberian city of Barnaul is the dark patch on a sharp bend in the Ob River (right margin). Barnaul is a major industrial and cultural center, but began as one of Russia’s most famous two mining cities, having supplied hundreds of tons of silver to the imperial coffers since the mid 1700s. Barnaul lies 200 km south of Novosibirsk, one of the most important cities on the Trans-Siberian railroad.
ISS006-E-45935	Above and Under the Red Sea: This unique photograph of shallow Red Sea waters off the coast of Saudi Arabia gives us a glimpse of both the coral reefs under the surface, and the texture and movements of surface waters. On the left side of the image we see through the water column to the reefs below the surface. On the right side of the image, the sun reflects off of microscopic oily films formed by a combination of natural biological sources and human activities on the sea surface (visit Oceanography from the Space Shuttle for more info). The films are concentrated by surface water movements and variably dampen surface capillary waves, which effect how the sun’s light is reflected. This creates patterns of brighter and darker reflections when viewed from orbit. These patterns trace the complex surface water dynamics along the coast. The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden include over 17,400 km2 of coral reefs, or 6% of the world’s total (World Atlas of Coral Reefs). The World Resources Institute has estimated that 60% of the reefs in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf are threatened by coastal development, overfishing, and the threat of oil spills by the heavy tanker traffic. The stretch of reefs shown here is near Qutu Island, south of Al-Qunfudhah, and is relatively isolated compared to other reefs in the region.
ISS006-E-44689	São Paulo, Brazil, at Night: A favorite activity of astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station is looking at the city lights below when the Station crosses the Earth’s dark side. The lights outline the densest population centers and coastlines, and suggest cultural patterns. Taking these low-light images using the equipment on board the Station has been challenging to the crew members because of the long exposure times required. Astronaut Don Pettit, who leaves the station for Earth today (May 3, 2003), has pioneered an approach using a home-made tracking system to track the ground as it moves relative to the Station, allowing him to acquire long-exposure images under low light conditions. Don’s ingenious “Barn-Door Tracker” is a camera mount with a rigged with a hand drill to create a motion tracking system (see http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/24mar_noseprints.htm for a description). This image shows the sprawling urban footprint of São Paulo, Brazil, South America’s largest city with roughly 17 million people. The different colors (pink, white, and gray) define different types and generations of streetlights. The port of Santos, on the right side of the photograph, is also well defined by lights.
ISS006-E-33736	Smog in the Northern Adriatic Sea: The boot of Italy crosses the image in this southwest-looking view taken by the crew of the International Space Station. The spine of Italy is highlighted with snow and the largely cloud-covered Mediterranean Sea is at the top. The Adriatic Sea transverses most of the bottom of the image and Sicily appears top left beyond the toe of the boot (red arrow). The heel lies out of the left side of the image. Corsica and Sardinia appear right of center partly under cloud. The floor of the Po River valley, lower right, is obscured by haze. Experience gained from similar haze events, in which atmospheric pressure, humidity and visibility and atmospheric chemistry were known, suggests that the haze is industrial smog. Industrial haze from the urban region of the central and upper Po valley accumulates to visible concentrations under conditions of high atmospheric pressure and the surrounding mountains prevent easy dispersal. This view illustrates the markedly different color and texture of cloud versus industrial aerosol haze. The flow pattern is typical of that seen on most Shuttle flights since the early 1980s and often recorded on film, that is of slow transport of the smog-rich airmass eastward into the Adriatic basin. This is the easiest and largest exit for haze moving away from the industrial region. The sharp seaward edge of the coherent plume of haze parallels the coastline of Italy—the coast can be discerned through the haze, from Venice (lower right) as far as the Gargano Peninsula (left margin, partly hidden under cloud). Note how there is sufficient lift along this seaward edge to generate a small cloud. There appears to be a smaller haze mass accumulating on the east side of the Apennines between Naples and Cassino (yellow arrows).
ISS006-E-33901	A Danish Perspecive: The Kingdom of Denmark, with an area of 16,639 square miles, consists of the Jutland Peninsula and roughly 500 islands. It is also a part of the generally fertile and mostly agricultural region known as the North European Plain. This entire region is generally flat to slightly rolling and is overlain with deposits of Pleistocene glaciers. (The Pleistocene lasted from 1.8 million to 11,000 years ago, during which time several ice ages occured.) Taking advantage of remarkably fair weather over north central Europe for this time of year, the crew of the International Space Station took this panoramic view that extends from the North Sea coast of the Netherlands on the left to the Baltic Sea shores of Sweden on the right. The late-winter landscape has little snow cover except over northeastern Germany, Sweden, and the rugged mountains of Norway. Such images, composed by astronauts, provide unique, synoptic perspectives of the Earth’s geography and natural processes.
ISS006-E-18382	New York City and East Coast City Lights: Bright city lights along the coastline and interior delineate the eastern coast of the United States at night. Known as the “city that never sleeps,” New York City with its population of more than 8 million residents (in 2000) is the largest and brightest metropolitan area along the coast. The metropolitan area straddles the Hudson River and spreads eastward over Long Island. Philadelphia is the second largest city in this image, situated south of New York (lower left in this scene). One of the most richly historic of U.S. cities, Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. The crew of the International Space Station took this image from a vantage point well to the northeast of the cities, with the camera pointed westward back towards New York City and the coast. The result is that the perspective is highly distorted but still recognizable. Low clouds have formed over the waters of the Atlantic and have settled into some of the valleys of the Appalachian Mountains to the northwest.
ISS006-E-36913	Los Angeles at Night: After sunset the borders of “The City of Angels” are defined as much by its dark terrain features as by its well-lit grid of streets and freeways. Over 13 million people inhabit the coastal basin bounded roughly by the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains to the north and the Chino Hills and Santa Ana Mountains to the east and southeast. The crew of the International Space Station took this unique image shortly after 1 a.m. local time on March 10, 2003. Both the glitter and sprawl of America’s second largest city as well as a number of its renowned landmarks are highly visible. In the north, Hollywood is nestled against the south side of the Santa Monica Mountains. On the coast, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the port facilities at Long Beach Naval Shipyards are bright spots. Finally, even at this time of night, the bright lights of Disneyland in Anaheim are a standout feature.
ISS006-E-29393	Lake Michigan Ice: A colder than normal North American winter saw the entire surface areas of Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie frozen over for the first time in years. The cold has delayed the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and will likely delay the start of the growing season near the Great Lake shorelines. Although the open surface waters of Lake Michigan did not freeze this season, the southern portion experienced a higher than normal amount of ice. Winds and currents drove broken pieces of ice from the north to the south. This image taken from the International Space Station shows a number of large pieces of ice collected along and just off the shoreline southwest of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Smaller pieces trail northward offshore from Chicago, Illinois. Note the ice accumulation along the entire eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan as well as the wind-drive lake-effect snow cover over the western half of the lower Michigan Peninsula.
ISS006-E-28359	Page, Arizona: This isolated community near the northern Arizona border is of special interest because of its origin and location. Unlike other towns in the area, Page was created in 1957 to house workers and their families during the construction of nearby Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. Its 17-square-mile site was obtained in a land exchange with the Navajo Indian tribe. The town is perched atop Manson Mesa at an elevation of 4,300 feet above sea level and 600 feet above Lake Powell. After the dam was completed in the 1960s, the town grew steadily to today’s population of 6,200. Because of the new roads and bridge built for use during construction, it has become the gateway to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell, attracting more than 3 million visitors per year. Page is also the home of two of the largest electrical generation units in the western United States. Glen Canyon Dam has a 1,288,000 kilowatts capacity when fully online. The other power plant to the southeast is the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired steam plant with an output capability of 2,250,000 kilowatts.
ISS006-E-24987	Buenos Aires at Night: Buenos Aires is one of the larger cities seen by orbiting crews. Twelve million people, almost one third of all Argentines, live in this city, often called the Paris of the South. Taken very early on the morning of Saturday, February 8, 2003, from the International Space Station with the handheld eclectronic still camera, this remarkably clear image shows the lights of Argentina’s capital city. Brightness of the lights exactly represents the density of the urban population, which declines all the way to the blackness of the farmlands that surround the city. The brightest area is the old part of the city centered on the port and the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. The blackest part of the scene is the River Plate, the great estuary of the Atlantic Ocean on which this port city is located. The widest city thoroughfare in the world—the Avenida 9 de Julio with four major roads running parallel, separated by grassy swards—is the brightest line in the downtown cluster. It appears as the longest north-south strip just inland of the port. Four major highways can be seen diverging from the city center. These highways may be more visible due to the well-known late-night traffic of weekend Buenos Aires. The inner part of Buenos Aires is the Federal Capital district, outlined by the great boulevard, Avenida General Paz. The straight segments of this boulevard angle around the north and west sides of the city.

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:
Server: 1