Bends of the Alabama River

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot this photo of large meanders of the Alabama River while orbiting over the southern United States. The river’s smooth water surface reflects sunlight back toward the astronaut’s camera, producing an optical phenomenon known as sunglint. When photographing Earth, astronauts often take advantage of sunglint’s tendency to increase the contrast between water surfaces and surrounding land surfaces.

The river’s large meander at the center of this image is known as Gee’s Bend, named after Joseph Gee, who founded a plantation there in 1816. The nearby community of Boykin (Gee’s Bend) has become known for its “vibrant folk art,” which since the early 2000s has resulted in major exhibitions in 12 of the largest art institutions in the United States.

The Alabama River flows southwest towards the Gulf of Mexico and connects with the Intracoastal Waterway along the Gulf Coast, which in turn allows barges to reach destinations in many parts of the United States. Damming of the Alabama River in the 1960s created Dannelly Reservoir, located 65 miles (100 kilometers) west-southwest of Montgomery, Alabama’s capital. Before the dam was built, the Alabama River was a comparatively narrow waterway, as seen on the far left of the image.

Construction of the dam raised water levels upriver. This resulted in flooding at several points along the river, such as Chilatchee Creek. These flooded zones are typical of floodplains—the low, flat areas immediately next to larger rivers. In this image, flooded zones appear as irregular, bright shapes extending away from the river. The widest flooded sector along the river appears in the area of Gee’s Bend southwest of Boykin.

Astronaut photograph ISS069-E-25553 was acquired on June 26, 2023, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a focal length of 400 millimeters. It is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by members of the Expedition 69 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, Jacobs JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.