Earth from Space - Image Description

STS058-088-054 Missouri River and Columbia, Missouri, U.S.A. October 1993
Visible in this near-vertical photograph is a portion of the generally southeast-trending Missouri River and its scoured sand and gravel floodplain between Boonville (lower right) and Jefferson City (upper left). The once rich agricultural fields of the floodplain have disappeared because of the floods of the spring and early summer of 1993. Bluffs on either side of the floodplain can exceed 250 feet (76 meters). East of the river is Columbia (below center), a trade center in a farm and coal mining region. Columbia is the home of the University of Missouri and has a well known medical center. Interstate Highway 70 skirts the northern portions of the city.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.