Earth from Space - Image Description

STS089-710-024 Rio Doce, Brazil January 1998
The dark terrain in the center of the image is a heavily forested area that has numerous small lakes (very dark features) scattered throughout. The main river that winds along the east side of the forested landscape is the northeasterly flowing Rio Doce. The Rio Doce merges with another river near the right edge of the image where the two industrial cities of Coronel Fabriciano and Ipatinga (lighter colored area) can be identified. These towns are located approximately 100 miles (150 kilometers) east of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais state. There is a pattern of paralleling, north-south trending faults throughout the landscape to the east of the forested region.

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