Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

STS-101 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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STS101-721-64 Kura Spit & Frontal Boundary, SW Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea coast has changed dramatically over time, and in the past twenty years sea level has risen 2.6 m. The effects of relative fall and rise are most easily seen where topographic relief is subdued, as along the coast south of Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan. Comparison of this photograph of the Kura Spit (upper right) with STS036-89-51 conveys the magnitude of change. In 1980 the large island was part of the spit. When STS036 flew in March, 1990 the spit extended ~15 km farther south toward the island. The STS101 photo reveals further erosion of the central spit, isolation of the island, and retreat of the shoreline. This area is discussed by E. I. Ignatov and G. D. Solovieva in one of eleven articles on the Caspian Sea in Dynamic Earth Environments - Remote Sensing Observations from Shuttle-Mir Missions, a volume produced by the Office of Earth Sciences and published by John Wiley & Sons (June, 2000). The light parallel bands are gravity waves in clouds along an atmospheric frontal boundary.

STS101-720-58 Lake Hövsgol Rift & Transform Fault: Lake Hövsgol, north-central Mongolia, occupies a rift valley (graben) that is linked with the Baykal rift system, 200 km farther east in the southeastern Russian Federation. This exceptional view shows not only Hövsgol but also another rift valley to the west, which is of similar size but lacks a lake; the eastern and western margins of both are normal faults that drop the valley floors down. A straight, east-trending transform fault zone bounds the valleys on the north; this transform zone extends eastward, linking the Hövsgol complex with the great Baykal rift. Structural details of this remote and seldom-imaged region are now being mapped for publication by Office of Earth Sciences staff and Russian colleagues in Irkutsk.

STS101-720-61 Lake Baykal Rift & Transform Fault: Lake Baykal, largest fresh-water lake in the world, occupies a rift valley (graben) that is 75 km wide and ~600 km long. The city of Irkutsk is on the banks of the Angara River, above the Space Station. A 200-km-long transform fault zone connects the Baykal rift valley with the Lake Hövsgol rift farther west (see STS101-720-58. Lavas erupted from volcanoes at the junction of Baykal rift faults and the transform fault zone - for example, the circular features southwest of Irkutsk - have brought chunks of mantle rock to the surface.

STS101-718-27 N. and S. Zagros Ranges & Persian Gulf: The lobate Qatar peninsula and Bahrain, on the southwestern shore of the Persian Gulf, lie beyond the orbiter stabilizer in this southeastward view. Along the northern Gulf coast are the folded mountain ranges of Iran, where the contrasting structural styles in the Northern and Southern Zagros ranges are clearly visible. Folds of the Northern Zagros, at left just above the orbiter, are long and tight, whereas those of the Southern Zagros are broader and less continuous. The differing styles reflect the responses of different rock types to the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Arabia is moving northward and is descending beneath the Eurasian plate margin, resulting in the crumpling of strata along the margin. The dark rocks in the crescent along the Oman Peninsula (distant center) are remnants of oceanic crust that were uplifted about 70 million years ago, early in the collision of the two plates.

STS101-722-35 Jura Alps & Rhone Rift Valley: Lac Leman or Lake Geneva lies within an arcuate valley in the Jura Alps, and the city of Geneva is at the western end of the lake (upper right); the border between France and Switzerland passes through the lake. The Jura and other Alpine mountain belts of Europe began to be uplifted about 60 million years ago as the African continent collided with Eurasia. The folds created during that event were later (~23 million years ago) crosscut by faults of the Rhone rift, which dropped the present broad valley (graben) down. The course of the Rhone River through southern France is influenced by north-trending faults of the rift system, as can be seen at lower left-center. Grenoble is at the southern corner of the U-shaped valley complex, just west of the snowy peaks at lower right. For an excellent stereo pair of this area, see STS101-716-16 and STS101-716-16.

STS101-718-3 Ruapehu & Tongariro Volcanoes, New Zealand: Ruapehu (snow-capped) and Tongariro are active volcanoes that lie along a northeasterly line through North Island, New Zealand. Between the southern shore of Lake Taupo (at top) and smaller Lake Rotoaira is another volcanic cone; White Island in the Bay of Plenty (200 km farther northeast) is the last subaerial volcano in the line at present (see STS 101-718-9). As the Pacific plate descends beneath the eastern edge of North Island, the crust of the overriding Australian/Indian plate is stretched. Lava rises through the weakened crust and a line of active volcanoes develops. Geothermal heat from volcanic sources is harnessed for power generation on North Island.

STS101-718-35 Large Cellular Cloud Pattern and Dust: A large cellular cloud pattern is moving southward over the cold waters of the Canary Current in the eastern Atlantic west of Western Sahara and Mauritania. Further south, toward the horizon, blowing dust from the Sahel Region is heading out to sea.

STS101-304-30 Airglow: The thin greenish band above the horizon is airglow; radiation emitted by the atmosphere from a layer about 30 km thick and about 100 km altitude. The predominant emission in airglow is the green 5577 Angstrom wavelength emission from atomic oxygen atoms, which is also the predominant emission from the aurora. A yellow-orange color is also seen in airglow, which is the emission of the 5800 Angstrom wavelength from sodium atoms. Airglow is always and everywhere present in the atmosphere; it results from the recombination of molecules that have been broken apart by solar radiation during the day. But airglow is so faint that it can only be seen at night by looking "edge on" at the emission layer, such as the view astronauts have in orbit. Tom Jones gives a nice astronaut perspective of airglow on the web at http://neurolab.jsc.nasa.gov/jones.htm.

STS101-706-22 Von Karman vortices: Von Karman vortices in the wake of the Canary Islands; Pt. Etienne is the narrow peninsula on the Atlantic coast; the Western Sahara/Mauritania border passes through the peninsula.

STS101-715-70 Northumberland Strait: View to SE down Prince Edward Island and Northumberland Strait into St. George's Bay and Canso Strait, which separates Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. Cape Breton Island is on east (left) and Nova Scotia on west.

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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

STS101-721-64	Kura Spit & Frontal Boundary, SW Caspian Sea: The Caspian Sea coast has changed dramatically over time, and in the past twenty years sea level has risen 2.6 m. The effects of relative fall and rise are most easily seen where topographic relief is subdued, as along the coast south of Apsheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan. Comparison of this photograph of the Kura Spit (upper right) with STS036-89-51 conveys the magnitude of change. In 1980 the large island was part of the spit. When STS036 flew in March, 1990 the spit extended ~15 km farther south toward the island. The STS101 photo reveals further erosion of the central spit, isolation of the island, and retreat of the shoreline. This area is discussed by E. I. Ignatov and G. D. Solovieva in one of eleven articles on the Caspian Sea in Dynamic Earth Environments - Remote Sensing Observations from Shuttle-Mir Missions, a volume produced by the Office of Earth Sciences and published by John Wiley & Sons (June, 2000). The light parallel bands are gravity waves in clouds along an atmospheric frontal boundary.
STS101-720-58	Lake Hövsgol Rift & Transform Fault: Lake Hövsgol, north-central Mongolia, occupies a rift valley (graben) that is linked with the Baykal rift system, 200 km farther east in the southeastern Russian Federation. This exceptional view shows not only Hövsgol but also another rift valley to the west, which is of similar size but lacks a lake; the eastern and western margins of both are normal faults that drop the valley floors down. A straight, east-trending transform fault zone bounds the valleys on the north; this transform zone extends eastward, linking the Hövsgol complex with the great Baykal rift. Structural details of this remote and seldom-imaged region are now being mapped for publication by Office of Earth Sciences staff and Russian colleagues in Irkutsk.
STS101-720-61	Lake Baykal Rift & Transform Fault: Lake Baykal, largest fresh-water lake in the world, occupies a rift valley (graben) that is 75 km wide and ~600 km long. The city of Irkutsk is on the banks of the Angara River, above the Space Station. A 200-km-long transform fault zone connects the Baykal rift valley with the Lake Hövsgol rift farther west (see STS101-720-58. Lavas erupted from volcanoes at the junction of Baykal rift faults and the transform fault zone - for example, the circular features southwest of Irkutsk - have brought chunks of mantle rock to the surface.
STS101-718-27	N. and S. Zagros Ranges & Persian Gulf: The lobate Qatar peninsula and Bahrain, on the southwestern shore of the Persian Gulf, lie beyond the orbiter stabilizer in this southeastward view. Along the northern Gulf coast are the folded mountain ranges of Iran, where the contrasting structural styles in the Northern and Southern Zagros ranges are clearly visible. Folds of the Northern Zagros, at left just above the orbiter, are long and tight, whereas those of the Southern Zagros are broader and less continuous. The differing styles reflect the responses of different rock types to the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Arabia is moving northward and is descending beneath the Eurasian plate margin, resulting in the crumpling of strata along the margin. The dark rocks in the crescent along the Oman Peninsula (distant center) are remnants of oceanic crust that were uplifted about 70 million years ago, early in the collision of the two plates.
STS101-722-35	Jura Alps & Rhone Rift Valley: Lac Leman or Lake Geneva lies within an arcuate valley in the Jura Alps, and the city of Geneva is at the western end of the lake (upper right); the border between France and Switzerland passes through the lake. The Jura and other Alpine mountain belts of Europe began to be uplifted about 60 million years ago as the African continent collided with Eurasia. The folds created during that event were later (~23 million years ago) crosscut by faults of the Rhone rift, which dropped the present broad valley (graben) down. The course of the Rhone River through southern France is influenced by north-trending faults of the rift system, as can be seen at lower left-center. Grenoble is at the southern corner of the U-shaped valley complex, just west of the snowy peaks at lower right. For an excellent stereo pair of this area, see STS101-716-16 and STS101-716-16.
STS101-718-3	Ruapehu & Tongariro Volcanoes, New Zealand: Ruapehu (snow-capped) and Tongariro are active volcanoes that lie along a northeasterly line through North Island, New Zealand. Between the southern shore of Lake Taupo (at top) and smaller Lake Rotoaira is another volcanic cone; White Island in the Bay of Plenty (200 km farther northeast) is the last subaerial volcano in the line at present (see STS 101-718-9). As the Pacific plate descends beneath the eastern edge of North Island, the crust of the overriding Australian/Indian plate is stretched. Lava rises through the weakened crust and a line of active volcanoes develops. Geothermal heat from volcanic sources is harnessed for power generation on North Island.
STS101-718-35	Large Cellular Cloud Pattern and Dust: A large cellular cloud pattern is moving southward over the cold waters of the Canary Current in the eastern Atlantic west of Western Sahara and Mauritania. Further south, toward the horizon, blowing dust from the Sahel Region is heading out to sea.
STS101-304-30	Airglow: The thin greenish band above the horizon is airglow; radiation emitted by the atmosphere from a layer about 30 km thick and about 100 km altitude. The predominant emission in airglow is the green 5577 Angstrom wavelength emission from atomic oxygen atoms, which is also the predominant emission from the aurora. A yellow-orange color is also seen in airglow, which is the emission of the 5800 Angstrom wavelength from sodium atoms. Airglow is always and everywhere present in the atmosphere; it results from the recombination of molecules that have been broken apart by solar radiation during the day. But airglow is so faint that it can only be seen at night by looking "edge on" at the emission layer, such as the view astronauts have in orbit. Tom Jones gives a nice astronaut perspective of airglow on the web at http://neurolab.jsc.nasa.gov/jones.htm.
STS101-706-22	Von Karman vortices: Von Karman vortices in the wake of the Canary Islands; Pt. Etienne is the narrow peninsula on the Atlantic coast; the Western Sahara/Mauritania border passes through the peninsula.
STS101-715-70	Northumberland Strait: View to SE down Prince Edward Island and Northumberland Strait into St. George's Bay and Canso Strait, which separates Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island. Cape Breton Island is on east (left) and Nova Scotia on west.

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