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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS008-E-12372 Date: Jan. 2004
Geographic Region: CHILE
Feature: RIO BIOBIO, PANGUE DAM, RESERVOIR

Ordering information for space photography
 
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  View Low-Resolution Image  
  Pangue Dam, Biobio River, Chile:
Chile's Biobio River flows northwestward from the high Cordillera of the Andes to the Pacific Ocean near Concepcion, about 450 km south of Santiago. The river is known globally for spectacular white-water rafting. This image shows a section of the river that skirts around Antuco volcano in the Andes, and features the Pangue Dam and reservoir filling a narrow, meandering segment of the Biobio River valley. Completed in 1996, the dam is the first of six hydroelectric dams planned by ENDESA, a Chilean utility company.

The future development of the Biobio River is a point of intense debate among Chileans, and has been called Chile's "defining environmental issue." Over a million people use the resources of the river. Controversial issues include ecological damage from the reservoirs, impacts to native peoples, and international financing and accountability. One of the planned dams upstream from Pangue, the Ralco, would require relocation of indigenous peoples who still maintain traditional lifestyles and affect temperate rainforest. A Chilean activist, Juan Pablo Orrego, won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1997 for his work to preserve the natural environment around the Biobio.

In May 2003, a Santiago court ruling allowed construction of the Ralco Dam to continue, but prohibited flooding the area occupied by the indigenous people. Upstream from the Pangue Reservoir (to the right in the image), the cleared areas associated with earth moving and construction of the Ralco Dam are visible. The straight white lines in cleared forest between the two dams probably represent power transmission lines.
 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 57k
Mission: ISS008  
Roll - Frame: E - 12372
Geographical Name: CHILE  
Features: RIO BIOBIO, PANGUE DAM, RESERVOIR  
Center Lat x Lon: 38S x 71.5W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: E4
 
Camera Tilt: 5   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 800  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: N   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number: 1344  
 
Date: 20040110   YYYYMMDD
Time: 153121   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 38.3S  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 71.5W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 53   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 205   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 66   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: FOREST, VALLEY, VOLCANO  
Water Views: FLOODING, RESERVOIR, RIVER  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views: DAM  
City Views: SANTIAGO  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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