Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

STS-109 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Photographic Highlights

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STS109-730-80 Coastal Fog, South Peruvian Coast at Pisco: Coastal fog commonly drapes the Peruvian coast. This image captures complex interactions between land, sea, and atmosphere along the southern Peruvian coast. When Shuttle astronauts took the image in February of 2002, the layers of coastal fog and stratus were being progressively scoured away by brisk south to southeast winds. Remnants of the cloud deck banked against the larger, obstructing headlands like Peninsula Paracas and Isla Sangayan, giving the prominent “white comma” effect. Southerlies also produced ripples of internal gravity waves in the clouds offshore where warm, dry air aloft interacts with a thinning layer of cool, moist air near the sea surface on the outer edge of the remaining cloud bank. South of Peninsula Baracas, the small headlands channeled the clouds into streaks—local horizontal vortices caused by the headlands provided enough lift to give points of origin of the clouds in some bays. Besides the shelter of the peninsula, the Bahia de Pisco appears to be cloud-free due to a dry, offshore flow down the valley of the Rio Ica.

STS109-345-32 Setting Sun, Java Sea, Indonesia: This west-looking view shows the profile of the atmosphere and the setting sun.

STS109-729-72 Hubble Telescope, Atlantic Ocean: Looking westward, the Hubble Space Telescope is visible near the earth's limb to the upper right of the center of the image. The Space Shuttle was located over the Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Cape Verde Islands when this image was acquired. Low to mid-altitude clouds are visible across the image.

STS109-708-24 Sinai Peninsula, Dead Sea Rift: The left side of the view is dominated by the great triangle of the Sinai peninsula, which is partly obscured by an unusual cloud mass on this day. The famous Monastery of St Catherine lies in the very remote, rugged mountains in the southern third of the peninsula (foreground). The Gulf of Aqaba is a finger of the Red Sea bottom center, pointing north to the Dead Sea, the small body of water near the center of the view. The gulf and the Dead Sea are northerly extensions of the same geological rift that resulted in the opening of the Red Sea . The Gulf of Suez appears in the lower left corner. NW Saudi Arabia occupies the lower right side of the view, Jordan and Syria the right and top right, and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea the top left. Thin white lines of cloud have formed along the coastal mountains of southern Turkey and stretch across the top of the view near the Earth's limb.

STS109-714-35 Houston, Texas: The view direction is northwest, with Houston's downtown as the brightest region (center) where major highways converge. Interstate 10 is a fine line extending towards the lower right, around the north side of Galveston Bay, part of which appears in the lower right corner. The interstate also appears as a line cutting through the wooded parts of west Houston (just west of downtown). Bush Intercontinental Airport is the largest light patch on the view north of downtown, and lies next to Highway 59, a thin white line that stretches toward the right side of the picture. Forests of East Texas make the top right corner of the view a dark green.

STS109-718-102 Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: Most of the largest island in the Galapagos group, Isla Isabela, stretches across the middle of the view. The circular feature on this island at the bottom of the view is Volcano Wolf (1707 m in altitude). Volcano Darwin (1280 m) is the next volcano above and to the left, partly ringed with cloud. The single island top right is Isla Fernandina, the top of another volcano (1547 m). Recent lava flows appear as darker surfaces and the older surfaces appear green, as a result of unusual rains and vegetation greening in this normally arid part of the world. The Equator passes exactly through Volcano Wolf, roughly left to right (north is towards the bottom of the view).

STS109-719-76 This oblique view looks northward from South Florida to the southern Appalachians. Most of the southeastern US appears in crisp, clear air in the wake of a cold front that has pushed well off the mainland. Only a few jet stream and low-level clouds remain over South Florida and Gulf Stream.

STS109-E-6003 This view looks southwestward over the Tasman Sea (between Australia and New Zealand) at a well-defined subtropical cyclone. Such circulations are recognized as hybrids, lacking the tight banding and convection of tropical cyclones, and the strong temperature contrast and frontal boundaries of polar storms.

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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

STS109-730-80	Coastal Fog, South Peruvian Coast at Pisco: Coastal fog commonly drapes the Peruvian coast. This image captures complex interactions between land, sea, and atmosphere along the southern Peruvian coast. When Shuttle astronauts took the image in February of 2002, the layers of coastal fog and stratus were being progressively scoured away by brisk south to southeast winds. Remnants of the cloud deck banked against the larger, obstructing headlands like Peninsula Paracas and Isla Sangayan, giving the prominent “white comma” effect. Southerlies also produced ripples of internal gravity waves in the clouds offshore where warm, dry air aloft interacts with a thinning layer of cool, moist air near the sea surface on the outer edge of the remaining cloud bank. South of Peninsula Baracas, the small headlands channeled the clouds into streaks—local horizontal vortices caused by the headlands provided enough lift to give points of origin of the clouds in some bays. Besides the shelter of the peninsula, the Bahia de Pisco appears to be cloud-free due to a dry, offshore flow down the valley of the Rio Ica.
STS109-345-32	Setting Sun, Java Sea, Indonesia: This west-looking view shows the profile of the atmosphere and the setting sun.
STS109-729-72	Hubble Telescope, Atlantic Ocean: Looking westward, the Hubble Space Telescope is visible near the earth's limb to the upper right of the center of the image. The Space Shuttle was located over the Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Cape Verde Islands when this image was acquired. Low to mid-altitude clouds are visible across the image.
STS109-708-24	Sinai Peninsula, Dead Sea Rift: The left side of the view is dominated by the great triangle of the Sinai peninsula, which is partly obscured by an unusual cloud mass on this day. The famous Monastery of St Catherine lies in the very remote, rugged mountains in the southern third of the peninsula (foreground). The Gulf of Aqaba is a finger of the Red Sea bottom center, pointing north to the Dead Sea, the small body of water near the center of the view. The gulf and the Dead Sea are northerly extensions of the same geological rift that resulted in the opening of the Red Sea . The Gulf of Suez appears in the lower left corner. NW Saudi Arabia occupies the lower right side of the view, Jordan and Syria the right and top right, and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea the top left. Thin white lines of cloud have formed along the coastal mountains of southern Turkey and stretch across the top of the view near the Earth's limb.
STS109-714-35	Houston, Texas: The view direction is northwest, with Houston's downtown as the brightest region (center) where major highways converge. Interstate 10 is a fine line extending towards the lower right, around the north side of Galveston Bay, part of which appears in the lower right corner. The interstate also appears as a line cutting through the wooded parts of west Houston (just west of downtown). Bush Intercontinental Airport is the largest light patch on the view north of downtown, and lies next to Highway 59, a thin white line that stretches toward the right side of the picture. Forests of East Texas make the top right corner of the view a dark green.
STS109-718-102	Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: Most of the largest island in the Galapagos group, Isla Isabela, stretches across the middle of the view. The circular feature on this island at the bottom of the view is Volcano Wolf (1707 m in altitude). Volcano Darwin (1280 m) is the next volcano above and to the left, partly ringed with cloud. The single island top right is Isla Fernandina, the top of another volcano (1547 m). Recent lava flows appear as darker surfaces and the older surfaces appear green, as a result of unusual rains and vegetation greening in this normally arid part of the world. The Equator passes exactly through Volcano Wolf, roughly left to right (north is towards the bottom of the view).
STS109-719-76	This oblique view looks northward from South Florida to the southern Appalachians. Most of the southeastern US appears in crisp, clear air in the wake of a cold front that has pushed well off the mainland. Only a few jet stream and low-level clouds remain over South Florida and Gulf Stream.
STS109-E-6003	This view looks southwestward over the Tasman Sea (between Australia and New Zealand) at a well-defined subtropical cyclone. Such circulations are recognized as hybrids, lacking the tight banding and convection of tropical cyclones, and the strong temperature contrast and frontal boundaries of polar storms.

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