Apr 22, 2013

Earth Day: NASA’s spectacular view of our planet

Robert Hamilton 0 Comment Nation, World Africa, Alaska, Alps, Amazon, Antarctica, Baltimore, Bingham Canyon Mine, Cape Cod, Chesapeake Bay, copper, cumulonimbus clouds, France, International Space Station, Italy, Kenya, NASA, New England, Paris, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Rio Negro, Rio San Pablo, Shiveluch Volcano, Shuttle Atlantis, South Pole, Soyuz, typhoon, Utah, Venice, volcano

60 photos

In the early days of space flight, the pictures harvested by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) were blurry gray images that resembled a bad weather map. With the advent of new technology and better platforms to photograph from, such as the space shuttle and International Space Station, NASA is able to provide us with an amazing viewpoint of Earth.

In honor of Earth Day, view memorizing photos of the blue planet from space.

: There have been many images of the full disc of Earth from space – a view often referred to as “the Blue Marble” – but few have looked quite like this. Using natural-color images from the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the recently launched Suomi-NPP satellite, a NASA scientist has compiled a new view showing the Arctic and high latitudes. NASA image

: From the vantage point of the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts observe many spectacular phenomena, including aurora, noctilucent clouds, airglow, and sunglint on Earth’s water bodies. Sunglint is light reflected off of a water surface towards the observer, such that it creates the appearance of a mirror-like surface. If the viewing and lighting conditions are ideal, that mirror-like surface can extend over very large areas, such as the entire surface of Lake Ontario (approximately 18,960 square kilometers). This astronaut photograph was taken while the ISS was located over a point to the southeast of Nova Scotia, approximately 1,200 kilometers (740 miles) ground distance from the centerpoint of the image. Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, the Finger Lakes of New York, and numerous other bodies of water appear brilliantly lit by sunglint. To the west, Lake Erie is also highlighted by sunglint, but less light is being reflected towards the astronaut observer, resulting in a duller appearance. NASA image

: The Rio Negro is recognizable by astronaut crews from orbit as one of the most meandering rivers in South America. In this astronaut photograph, the entire floodplain (mostly 10 kilometers wide) is covered with curved relics of channels known as meander scars. Meander scars show the past positions of river bends. The Rio Negro is a dramatic example of how mobile a river can be; these meanders were produced as the river snaked across the plain in the very recent geological past, probably during the last few hundred years. The main channel of the river, flowing south at this point – sixty kilometers south of the city of Choele Choel (not shown) – appears in partial sun glint at image right. Sun glint occurs when light is reflected off a water surface directly back towards the viewer, like a mirror, imparting a silvery sheen to those areas. When meander scars contain water they are known as oxbow lakes, some of which are also highlighted by sun glint in the image. NASA image

: Ten years ago, the astronauts of space shuttle Columbia, flight STS-107 lost their lives in a tragic accident upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. On January 22, 2003, they captured this more benign view of the atmosphere and of the Moon. Looking west over the Atlantic Ocean, the crew glimpsed the many cloud formations that help make our Blue Marble beautiful and livable. NASA image

: Despite the blustery weather, more than a million people gathered in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2009, to witness and celebrate the inauguration of the forty-fourth president of the United States, Barak Obama. The commercial satellite GeoEye-1 captured this high-resolution view of the crowds that morning. The Capitol is at image right; the dome and the bright blue-green roofs are easy to recognize. To the right of image center, what at first seems to be a dense, leafless forest is actually the crowd of people closest to the site of the swearing-in ceremony, which takes place on the steps of the Capitol. To the left of center is the greenish rectangle of one of the reflecting pools on the National Mall – the strip of open lawn that stretches from the Capitol in the east to the Lincoln Memorial in the west. West of the reflecting pool is the first of numerous satellite crowds that were strung out in pockets along the length of the mall. Jumbo screens were placed along the route to allow people far from the Capitol to see the event. Image courtesy GeoEye

: In this astronaut photograph, the Space Shuttle Atlantis approaches the International Space Station for docking for the last time on July 10, 2011. Part of a Russian Progress spacecraft, also docked to the station, pokes into the upper foreground. Beneath them all lie the teal-colored shallows around the Bahamas. NASA image

: This image of Earth’s city lights was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). Originally designed to view clouds by moonlight, the OLS is also used to map the locations of permanent lights on the Earth’s surface. The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. (Compare western Europe with China and India.) Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. Even without the underlying map, the outlines of many continents would still be visible. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region. NASA image

: The rainforest of South America, also known as Amazonia, has been undergoing a continual and accelerated conversion process into farmlands (including pasture for livestock) since the early 1960s. This process has typically been achieved by clearing the forest using fire – “slash and burn” – followed by planting of crops. The generally infertile soils of this rainforest – the largest such forest on Earth – make sustainable farming difficult. This drives people to convert more forest into farmland. The area of clearing can be considerable, and since the deforested regions are easily identifiable and measurable from space, the rate of deforestation is likewise easy to track. This astronaut photograph illustrates slash-and-burn forest clearing along the Rio Xingu (Xingu River) in the state of Mato Grasso, Brazil. NASA image

: At 3:00 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time on May 23, 2006, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams from International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 13 contacted the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) to report that the Cleveland Volcano had produced a plume of ash. Shortly after the activity began, he took this photograph. This picture shows the ash plume moving west-southwest from the volcano’s summit. A bank of fog (upper right) is a common feature around the Aleutian Islands. The event proved to be short-lived; two hours later, the plume had completely detached from the volcano (see image from May 24). The AVO reported that the ash cloud height could have been as high as 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) above sea level. Cleveland Volcano, situated on the western half of Chuginadak Island, is one of the most active of the volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, which extend west-southwest from the Alaska mainland. NASA photo

: The Dendi Caldera is located on the Ethiopian Plateau, approximately 86 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. A caldera is a geological feature formed by the near-total eruption of magma from beneath a volcano. Two shallow lakes have formed within the central depression (image center). This image also highlights a radial drainage pattern surrounding the remnants of the Dendi volcanic cone. Radial drainage patterns commonly form around volcanoes, as rainfall can flow down slope on all sides of the cone and incise channels. NASA image

: Following on the heels of another storm, heavy snow fell on Colorado and neighboring states on February 24, 2013. On February 25, the Denver/Boulder Forecast Office of the National Weather Service reported preliminary snow – totals including 27.2 inches west of Denver – and blizzard conditions to the east. Like the previous storm, this one continued moving eastward. NASA image

: Perhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for “pile” and “rain cloud”) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist, and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes. As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to a liquid state, it releases energy to its surroundings, further heating the surrounding air and leading to more convection and rising of the cloud mass to higher altitudes. This leads to the characteristic vertical “towers” associated with cumulonimbus clouds, an excellent example of which is visible in this astronaut photograph shot over Africa. NASA image

: A space-based perspective of the city of Venice quickly reveals different development and land uses in the region; the major islands in the lagoon surrounding Venice – Laguna Veneta – look different from one another. The island of Venice itself, a dense urban landscape, appears almost uniformly covered with red-tiled roofs. By contrast, port facilities and the train station at the west end of the island appear in shades of gray. Though Venice’s population is fewer than 70,000 residents and declining, as many as 12 million people visit the city every year. Many arrive from the mainland via the bridge at the train station. Many also arrive by boats; boat wakes can be seen as white flashes in many parts of the image. A prominent visual feature of the Venice metropolitan area is the S-bend of the Grand Canal. The famous Rialto Bridge is big enough to appear as a white break in the canal in this astronaut photograph. NASA image

: Not so long ago, many islands rose above the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay. These small islands offered a predator-free haven for nesting water birds and turtles, while the larger islands supported fishing communities along with wildlife. But now, the muddy, marshy islands are eroding under the combined forces of geology and climate change. The very crust under the Chesapeake Bay is sinking, while sea levels are rising. Made of clay and silt, the islands erode quickly, and many have disappeared altogether. In 1998, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers began to restore Poplar Island. The project serves two purposes: it restores lost habitat to birds and turtles, and it provides a use for material dredged from Baltimore Harbor and Chesapeake Bay shipping lanes. The method of restoration is visible in the center image, taken on June 21, 2006. Engineers built dikes around sections of the island and have been gradually filling in the center with dredged silt. By 2006, the island had regained the shape it held in the 1800s. NASA image

: In February 2013, a nor’easter pounded the eastern United States, doing particular damage along the coast of New England. Wind gusts reached hurricane-force in several coastal states, raising a four to five-foot (1 to 1.5 meter) storm surge on top of astronomically high tides. The result was extreme beach erosion along the coast of Massachusetts and other coastal areas. NASA image

$The Bingham Canyon Mine (image center) is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. Located about 30 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mine exploits a porphyry copper deposit, a geological structure formed by crystal-rich magma moving upwards through pre-existing rock layers. As the magma cools and crystallizes, it forms an igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a fine-grained matrix, known as a porphyry. Hot fluids circulate through the magma and surrounding rocks via fractures, depositing copper-bearing and other minerals in spatial patterns that a geologist recognizes as a potential porphyry copper deposit. NASA image$: The Bingham Canyon Mine (image center) is one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, measuring over 4 kilometers wide and 1,200 meters deep. Located about 30 kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mine exploits a porphyry copper deposit, a geological structure formed by crystal-rich magma moving upwards through pre-existing rock layers. As the magma cools and crystallizes, it forms an igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a fine-grained matrix, known as a porphyry. Hot fluids circulate through the magma and surrounding rocks via fractures, depositing copper-bearing and other minerals in spatial patterns that a geologist recognizes as a potential porphyry copper deposit. NASA image

: On February 17, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of an atmospheric eddy off the coast of Southern California. The swirling, circular pattern in the clouds was due west of San Diego when Terra flew over around local noon. The pattern is known to meteorologists as a Catalina eddy, or coastal eddy, and it forms as upper-level flows interact with the rugged coastline and islands off of Southern California. The interaction of high-pressure – bringing offshore winds blowing out of the north – and low-pressure driving coastal winds blowing out of the south combine with the topography to give the marine stratus clouds a cyclonic, counter-clockwise spin. The eddy is named for Santa Catalina Island, one of the Channel Islands offshore between Los Angeles and San Diego. NASA image

: Bouvet Island (in Norwegian, Bouvetøya) is known as the most remote island in the world; Antarctica, over 1600 kilometers (994 miles) to the south, is the nearest land mass. Located near the junction between the South American, African, and Antarctic tectonic plates, the island is mostly formed from a shield volcano—a broad, gently sloping cone formed by thin, fluid lavas—that is almost entirely covered by glaciers. NASA image The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this true-color image of the refuge on May 27, 2005. Much of the water in this preserve appears dark purple-brown, especially in the west and north. In the southeast, the water appears paler in color, likely due to a combination of exposed and submerged land. NASA image

: Along the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the town of Cambridge, is the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Covering over 27,000 acres (42 square kilometers), the refuge includes tidal marshes, freshwater ponds, and forests. Established in 1933 as a waterfowl refuge, the area is now recognized as a wetland of international importance by the United Nations’ Ramsar Convention. It hosts the East Coast’s largest breeding population of bald eagles north of Florida, and it is a crucial stopping point along the Atlantic Flyway, one of North America’s four major bird migration routes. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this true-color image of the refuge on May 27, 2005. Much of the water in this preserve appears dark purple-brown, especially in the west and north. In the southeast, the water appears paler in color, likely due to a combination of exposed and submerged land. NASA image

: This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image of Baltimore was acquired on April 4, 2000, and covers an area of 17 by 20 km. Combining green, red, and near-infrared light to create a false-color composite, the image shows vegetation as red, water as blue, and urban areas as grey.

: Baltimore is located along the mid-Atlantic coastline of the United States, at the terminus of the Patapsco River into Chesapeake Bay. It is the largest seaport along this part of the coast, and the subject of this astronaut photograph from the International Space Station. Like many large U.S. metropolitan areas, the most brightly lit areas correspond to the highest density of buildings and typically indicates the urban core – including, in this case, the Inner Harbor tourist and commercial area. NASA photo

: The late summer/fall wildfire season is in full swing in the western United States. Significant wildfires are observed each year by astronauts orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station. This astronaut photograph documents the Arnica Fire in Yellowstone National Park. The fire was started by a lightning strike near Yellowstone Lake on September 13, 2009. By the time it was detected on September 23, 2009, it covered approximately 2 hectares (4 acres). The fire was photographed by the astronauts on the following day (September 24); by then, it had grown to 101 hectares (250 acres) in size. Warm, dry and windy conditions in the area provided a favorable environment for growth of the fire, and as of October 1, 2009, the fire was estimated to be 3,764 hectares (9,300 acres) in size. NASA image

: An unusually strong storm formed off the coast of Alaska on August 5, 2012, and tracked into the center of the Arctic Ocean, where it lingered for several days. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on August 7, 2012. The center of the storm was located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean at the time. The storm had an unusually low central pressure area. “It’s an uncommon event, especially because it’s occurring in the summer,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for atmospheric sciences at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Polar lows are more usual in the winter.” Newman estimated that there have only been about eight storms of similar strength during the month of August over the past 34 years of satellite records. NASA image

: Sunny skies and westerly winds prevailed over the Antarctic Peninsula on April 24, 2012. Cloudy weather had just moved out, and temperatures rose well above freezing as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAÕs Terra satellite passed overhead and captured a natural-color image (top). The relatively warm conditions on the peninsula in late April 2012 were driven in part by warm downslope winds, known as Chinook or foehn winds, that were channeled through valleys such as the one holding the Flask Glacier. Such winds can lead to extensive melt in the summer. NASA image

: The Kuril Island chain extends from the Kamchatka Peninsula to Japan and contains numerous active volcanoes along its length. This astronaut photograph highlights Alaid Volcano, the highest (2,339 meters above sea level) volcano in the chain, as well as the northernmost. The textbook cone-shaped morphology of this stratovolcano is marred only by the summit crater, which is breached to the south (image center) and highlighted by snow cover. The volcano rises 3000 meters from the floor of the Sea of Okhotsk, with the uppermost part of the volcano exposed as an island. NASA image

: Numerous volcanoes contribute to the landmass of the island of New Britain, the largest in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. One of the most active of these volcanoes – Ulawun – is also the tallest, with a summit elevation of 2,334 meters (7,657 feet). This astronaut photograph was taken during the most recent phase of volcanic activity at Ulawun. A plume of white steam and ash extends from the summit crater of the stratovolcano towards the northwest. The plume begins to broaden as it passes the southwestern coast of Lolobau Island, approximately 23 kilometers downwind. Note that the image is oriented such that north is towards the lower left. NASA image

: The Twitchell Canyon Fire, near central Utah’s Fishlake National Forest, was reported to cover approximately 13,383 hectares (134 square kilometers, or 33,071 acres) as of September 21, 2010. The crew on the International Space Station (ISS) took this photograph of the smoke plumes generated by fires close to the southwestern edge of the burned area. The fire was started by a lightning strike on July 20, 2010. The photograph is highly oblique; that is, it was taken at an angle rather than looking straight down towards the Earth’s surface (a nadir view). NASA image

: Felleng formed as a tropical storm over the southern Indian Ocean on January 26, 2013, and strengthened into a cyclone on January 29. That day, the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Felleng was located roughly 420 nautical miles (780 kilometers) north of Runion Island. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 90 knots (170 kilometers per hour), with gusts up to 110 knots (205 kilometers per hour). Over the next 36 hours, wind speeds were forecast to increase to 115 knots (215 kilometers per hour) with gusts up to 140 knots (260 kilometers per hour). NASA image

: The formidable mountain system of the Alps stretches across much of central Europe, with seven countries claiming portions of the mountains within their borders: Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia. The glacial landscape of the Bernese Alps, located in southwestern Switzerland, is well illustrated by this astronaut photograph. An astronaut took this picture by looking north-northwest while the International Space Station was over the Mediterranean Sea between Corsica and Italy. NASA image

: This astronaut photograph shows the Calabria region of southern Italy – the toe of Italy’s “boot” – outlined by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas to the southeast and northwest respectively. The water surfaces present a mirror-like appearance due to sunglint. This phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflecting off the water surface directly back towards the astronaut observer on board the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS was located over northwestern Romania, approximately 1,040 kilometers to the northeast of Calabria, when this image was taken. The Calabrian Peninsula appears shortened and distorted due to the extreme sideways viewing angle from the ISS. Such a perspective is termed oblique, as opposed to a nadir view, in which the astronaut is looking directly downwards towards the Earth’s surface from the ISS. This highly oblique view also highlights two distinct cloud patterns over the Calabrian interior.

: The setting sun glints off the Amazon River and numerous lakes in its floodplain in this astronaut photograph from August 19, 2008. Large areas of sunglint are common in oblique views (shot from an angle, rather than looking straight down from the spacecraft). About 150 kilometers of the sinuous Amazon is shown here; the area is about 1,000 kilometers inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Arrows show the generally eastward direction of flow of the Amazon. One of the great river’s tributaries, the Uatum River, enters on the north side of the Amazon (top center). A small side channel, or distributary, of the Madeira River (beyond the left edge of the image) enters the view from the left. Tupinambarama Island occupies the swampy wetlands between the Amazon and Madeira rivers. NASA image

: It’s not often that you can see someone traveling to meet you from the moment that they leave their home. But that’s exactly what the Expedition 33 crew did on October 23, 2012, when they captured this image of the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft riding into space to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). The top photograph shows the layers of atmosphere along Earth’s limb and the exhaust trails from the Soyuz rocket that lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:51 p.m. local time on October 23. At the time, the ISS was passing over northeastern China, and the photographer was looking back to the west. NASA photo

: Snow, ash, and debris cover Shiveluch Volcano in these false-color (near infrared, red, and green) satellite images. The images show changes on Shiveluch over a two week period. On March 2, 2013 (top image), ash was spread over a large area, carried by shifting winds. Debris from Shiveluch’s lava dome was funneled south by a narrow couloir, traveling as much as 14 kilometers (8.7 miles). By March 18 late winter snow had obscured the ash, but fresh debris darkened the slopes directly south of the dome. Credit, NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon

: While the bulk of the continent of Antarctica sits over the South Pole, the narrow Antarctic Peninsula extends like a finger towards the tip of South America. The northernmost part of the Peninsula is known as Graham Land, a small portion of which (located at approximately 64 degrees South latitude) is visible at the top left in this astronaut photograph. Off the coast of Graham Land to the north-northwest, two of the South Shetland Islands—Livingston Island and Deception Island—are visible. Both have volcanic origins, and active volcanism at Deception Island has been recorded since 1800. (The last verified eruptive activity occurred in 1970.) NASA image

: Numerous lakes dot the otherwise arid landscape of the Tibetan Plateau. One of those lakes is Ayakum, near the northern boundary of the Plateau, to the southeast of the Kunlun Mountains. While many of the small glacier- and snowmelt-fed streams on the Plateau give rise to major Southeast Asian rivers (including the Mekong and Yangtze), some empty into saline lakes such as Lake Ayakum. This astronaut photograph highlights two river deltas formed along its southwestern shoreline. NASA photo

: This image is the first light from the new ISERV camera system, taken at 1:44 p.m. local time on February 16, 2013. It shows the Rio San Pablo as it empties into the Golfo de Montijo in Veraguas, Panama. It is an ecological transition zone, changing from agriculture and pastures to mangrove forests, swamps, and estuary systems. The area has been designated a protected area by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) of Panama and is listed as a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention. (Note that the image is rotated so that north is to the upper right.) NASA image

$The East African Rift is one of the great tectonic features of Africa, caused by fracturing of the Earth’s crust. This astronaut photograph of the Eastern Branch of the Rift (near Kenya’s southern border) highlights the classical geologic structures associated with a tectonic rift valley. On one side of the rift lies the Nubian (or African) tectonic plate, which includes the older continental crust of Africa. The Somalian plate—which is moving away in the other direction—lies to the other side and includes the Horn of Africa. (Note that the image is oriented so that north is to the lower left.) Together with the associated Ethiopian Rift, the tectonic boundary stretches from the southern Red Sea to central Mozambique. NASA image$: The East African Rift is one of the great tectonic features of Africa, caused by fracturing of the Earth’s crust. This astronaut photograph of the Eastern Branch of the Rift (near Kenya’s southern border) highlights the classical geologic structures associated with a tectonic rift valley. On one side of the rift lies the Nubian (or African) tectonic plate, which includes the older continental crust of Africa. The Somalian plate—which is moving away in the other direction—lies to the other side and includes the Horn of Africa. (Note that the image is oriented so that north is to the lower left.) Together with the associated Ethiopian Rift, the tectonic boundary stretches from the southern Red Sea to central Mozambique. NASA image

: Maryland’s Patuxent River Naval Air Station is located on a small peninsula, bordered by the Patuxent River to the north-northeast and Chesapeake Bay to the east and southeast. The air station was commissioned in 1943, replacing farmlands that had occupied the peninsula less than a year earlier. The primary purpose of “Pax River” (as the site is known by the U.S. Navy) was to consolidate geographically dispersed testing facilities that existed prior to World War II. The Patuxent River station is now the primary center for naval air technology research, development, testing, and support, as well as being the location of the Navy Test Pilot School. International Space Station crews frequently use the Patuxent River Naval Air Station as a geographic reference point and photographic training target. This astronaut photograph illustrates why, the distinctive pattern of the airfield runways and the station’s location in Chesapeake Bay make it easy to spot from orbit. The sharp boundaries between different kinds of land surfaces are good for camera focusing practice. NASA image

: A crisp, clear winter day over France provided the International Space Station a detailed view of the city of Paris. This image, rotated and cropped from the original, shows the recognizable street pattern of the city—and some of the world’s most notable landmarks—along the Seine River. One of the main avenues radiating like spokes from the Arc de Triomphe (image upper left) is the Avenue des Champs-Élysées running southeast to the Garden of Tuileries (Jardin des Tuileries). The garden—recognizable by its light green color relative to the surrounding built materials—was originally commissioned by Catherine de Medici in 1559, and is now bounded by the Place de la Concorde to the northeast and the Louvre museum along the Seine River at the southeast end. Other, similarly colored parks and greenspaces are visible throughout the image. Farther south on the Seine is the Íle de la Cité, location of the famous Notre Dame cathedral. Perhaps most prominent is the characteristic “A” profile of the Eiffel Tower west of the Jardin des Tuileries, highlighted by morning sunlight. NASA image

: Dust plumes from Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan blew southward over the Arabian Sea in late December 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of multiple dust storms on December 28. This region lies within a broad band of dust-producing terrain that stretches from the Sahara Desert to Mongolia. Sand seas often give rise to dust storms, and such sandy deserts occur over a large portion of southwestern Afghanistan. Much of the dust in this image, however, has arisen from dry lakes and riverbeds. NASA image

: Amidst the natural marine clouds southwest of Vancouver Island were long, thin, man made clouds, many of them arising from small source points. The thin clouds were ship tracks – clouds seeded by particles in ship exhaust. Tiny airborne particles (aerosols) act as nuclei or seeds for cloud formation, as water vapor condenses onto them. NASA image

: Snow cover highlights the calderas and volcanic cones that form the northern and southern ends of Onekotan Island, part of the Russian Federation in the western Pacific Ocean. Calderas are depressions formed when a volcano empties its magma chamber in an explosive eruption and then the overlaying material collapses into the evacuated space. In this astronaut photograph from the International Space Station, the northern end of the island (image right) is dominated by the Nemo Peak volcano, which began forming within an older caldera approximately 9,500 years ago. The last recorded eruption at Nemo Peak occurred in the early 18th century. NASA photo

: This photograph, taken from the International Space Station (ISS), shows the north coast of Trinidad and a series of subtle, interacting arcs in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. These are known as “internal waves,” the surface manifestation of slow waves that move tens of meters beneath the sea surface. Internal waves produce enough of an effect on the sea surface to be seen from space, but only where they are enhanced due to reflection of sunlight, or sun glint, back towards the International Space Station. NASA image

: One of the fascinating aspects of viewing Earth at night is how well the lights show the distribution of people. In this view of Egypt, we see a population almost completely concentrated along the Nile Valley, just a small percentage of the country’s land area. The Nile River and its delta look like a brilliant, long-stemmed flower in this astronaut photograph of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea, as seen from the International Space Station. The Cairo metropolitan area forms a particularly bright base of the flower. The smaller cities and towns within the Nile Delta tend to be hard to see amidst the dense agricultural vegetation during the day. However, these settled areas and the connecting roads between them become clearly visible at night. NASA image

: The southern end of Manhattan, as well as Ellis Island, New Jersey, and Queens are visible in this image from a perfectly clear day in September, 2002. USGS EROS Data Center

: Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have a new view of Earth after the space shuttle Endeavour delivered the Tranquility module to the station. Measuring 15 feet wide by 23 feet long, Tranquility holds some of the station’s environmental control equipment, such as the system that cleans carbon dioxide from the air, and it also provides living space for exercise equipment and a bathroom. Tranquility also comes with a cupola, a dome-shaped viewing port made up of seven windows. Shortly after the shutters were removed from the windows on February 17, 2010, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi took the top photo while looking out from the new cupola. The tan, brown, and orange Sahara Desert is visible through the windows. NASA image

: A clear summer day over Washington state provided the International Space Station crew the chance to observe Mt. Rainier – a volcano that overlooks the Seattle metropolitan area and the 2.5 million people who live there. In addition to its presence on the Seattle skyline, Mt. Rainier also looms large among volcanoes in the United States. It is the highest volcano in the Cascades, with an elevation of 4,392 meters (14,411 feet) above sea level at the summit of the Columbia Crest. Emmons Glacier on the eastern slope is the largest glacier in the lower 48 states. Nisqually Glacier has been actively monitored for more than a century, making it the longest-monitored glacier in the United States. NASA photo

: Hurricane Isabel lurks ominously off the US coastline in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image taken September 16, 2003 at 1:40 pm, local time (17:40 UTC) by NASA’s Aqua satellite. Isabel seems to be heading towards Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the bulge of land in the upper left of the image. The narrow finger of water above it is Chesapeake Bay. At the time this image was taken, Isabel boasted winds of 105 miles per hour with higher gusts, making it a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It was moving north-northwest at 7 miles per hour. NASA image

: This astronaut photograph illustrates the diverse built environment surrounding the NASA Ames Research Center located at the southernmost end of San Francisco Bay. Founded in 1939 as an aircraft research laboratory, Ames became a NASA facility in 1958. Its original aircraft research focus was enhanced by the adjacent Moffett Field – an active Naval Air Station until 1994, and the original home of the Navy dirigible U.S.S. Macon. The large hanger for docking the U.S.S. Macon is still present at Moffett Field, and is visible in this astronaut photograph (image center). Today, NASA Ames includes the former Naval Air Station, and it continues its focus on aeronautics in addition to nanotechnology, information technology, fundamental space biology, biotechnology, thermal protection systems, and human factors research. NASA image

: In southwestern Egypt, deep in the Sahara Desert, the wind dominates the shape of the landscape, as it has done for the past several thousand years. Winds blowing from the north have fashioned sands into large dunes, aligned parallel with these winds. The so-called linear dunes – shown here in the Great Sand Sea of southwest Egypt- are easily spotted from space, and local maps show that they rise 20 to 30 meters above the surrounding plains. The distance between dunes is interestingly regular, at 1.5 to 2.5 kilometers, suggesting some equilibrium exists between the wind strength and the sand supply. It is possible that the linear dunes are a reflection of earlier times, when winds were stronger or sand more plentiful. NASA image

: Nevado del Ruiz Volcano (image center) is located approximately 140 kilometers (87 miles) to the northwest of Colombia’s capital, Bogot. Covering over 200 square kilometers (77 square miles), Nevado del Ruiz is a large stratovolcano – a cone-shaped volcano built from successive layers of lava, ash, and pyroclastic flow deposits. The volcano is fed by magma generated above the boundary between the subducting Nazca and overriding South American tectonic plates. The historical record of eruptions at the volcano extends back to 1570, but the most damaging eruption in recent times took place in 1985. On the November 13, 1985, an explosive eruption at the Arenas Crater (image center) melted ice and snow at the summit of the volcano. Mudflows (lahars) swept tens of kilometers down river valleys along the volcano’s flanks, killing at least 23,000 people. Most of the fatalities occurred in the town of Armero which was completely inundated by lahars. Eruptive activity at Nevado del Ruiz may have occurred in 1994, but this is not confirmed. NASA image

: After a nearly ice-free winter, Lake Erie was filled with swirls of suspended sediment and algae on the first day of spring 2012. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAÕs Terra satellite captured this natural-color image at 16:25 a.m. Central Daylight Time on March 21, 2012. Muddy, tan-colored water along the shoreline reveals sediment that has washed out of the rivers and streams that feed the lake. Milky green, light blue, and white shades may also be sediment-rich waters. As the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Erie’s bottom can be stirred up by strong spring winds and the currents they generate. The lake bottom is rich in quartz sand and silt, as well as calcium carbonate (chalk) from limestone. NASA image

: Widespread deposits of volcanic debris indicate that frequent pyroclastic flows scour the slopes of Kizimen Volcano. On March 2, 2013, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite captured a flow as it cascaded down the eastern flank of the volcano. The false-color image (made from near infrared, red, and green light) shows airborne dust and ash lofted by the flow, as well as brown older debris, white snow, dull red forests, and a white gas and ash plume. Poperechny Brook, which flows north from Kizimen, is also partially filled with pyroclastic flow deposits. NASA image

: The vantage point from orbit on the International Space Station (ISS) frequently affords astronauts with the opportunity to observe processes that are impossible to see on the ground. The winter season blankets the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia in snow, but significant amounts of sea ice can also form and collect along the Pacific coastline. As ice floes grind against each other, they produce smaller floes that can be moved by wind and currents. The irregular southeastern coastline of Kamchatka provokes large, circular eddy currents to spin off from the main southwestward-flowing Kamchatka current. Three such eddies are highlighted by surface ice floe patterns at image center. The patterns are very difficult (and dangerous) to navigate in an ocean vessel. NASA image

: Most of Istanbul’s Asian suburbs (image right) appear in this night view from the International Space Station, but only about half the area of the city on the European side is visible. The margins of the metropolitan area are clearly visible at night, more so than in daylight images in daylight images. The Bosporus strait (also spelled Bosphorus) famously separates the two halves of the city and links the small Sea of Marmara (and the Mediterranean Sea) to the Black Sea. The strait is 31 kilometers (19 miles) long, most of which is visible in this view. The Bosporus is a very busy waterway, with larger ships passing north-south between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, while competing with numerous ferries that cross east-west between the two halves of the city. NASA image

: The Ouarkziz Impact Crater is located in northwestern Algeria, close to the border with Morocco. The crater was formed by a meteor impact less than 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era, or “Age of Dinosaurs.” Originally called Tindouf, the 3.5-kilometer wide crater (image center) has been heavily eroded since its formation; however, its circular morphology is highlighted by exposures of older sedimentary rock layers that form roughly northwest to southeast-trending ridgelines. From the vantage point of an astronaut on the International Space Station, the impact crater is clearly visible with a magnifying camera lens.

: Taken with a short lens (45 millimeters), this west-looking astronaut photograph has a field of view covering much of the forested region of central Idaho. The dark areas are wooded mountains – the Salmon River Mountains (image left), the Bitterroots (lower right) and Clearwater Mountains (right). All three areas experienced wildfires in September 2012. Smaller fire “complexes” appear as tendrils of smoke near the sources – for example, the Halstead fires – and as major smoke plumes from fires in the densest forests – such as the Mustang fire complex. NASA image

: Several vents near the summit of Mount Etna emitted plumes of volcanic gases on March 31, 2013. This false-color (near infrared, red, and green) satellite image was collected by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite. Volcanic plumes, clouds, and snow are white, while forests are dark red, and fields are bright red. Fresh lava flows are black, and older lava flows with more vegetation are progressively lighter and redder. Towns, located at the foot of the volcano, are brown. NASA image

: The relatively placid view from the International Space Station belied the potent forces at work in Hurricane Earl as it hovered over the tropical Atlantic Ocean on August 30, 2010. With maximum sustained winds of 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, the storm was classified as a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale as it passed north of the Virgin Islands. In this photograph captured with a digital SLR camera by NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock, Earl had a distinct eye that spanned about 17 miles (28 kilometers). Most of the storm had a seemingly uniform top, though the bottom edge of the image gives some sense of the towering thunderheads forming over the ocean. The solar panels of the ISS remind us that the sun is still shining, at least on ISS Expedition 24.

: On August 28, 2012, tropical storm Isaac achieved hurricane force and was predicted to make landfall on the Gulf Coast of the United States sometime overnight. A category 1 storm, Hurricane Isaac approached the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts on the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane watches and warnings were posted from Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi-Alabama border. NASA photo

NASA astronauts have documented our planet since the early days of the Mercury missions in the 1960s. The photographs have been archived and comprise a database containing over 1.6 million images of Earth. More than one million of those pictures are from the International Space Station (ISS).

These images give us a dramatic bird’s-eye-view of the beauty and fury of mother nature, from majestic ice formations and stunning clouds to violent volcanoes and deadly mega-storms. This unique view, which can be found on the NASA website “Visible Earth,” provides us with a gateway to a new perspective and unimaginable imagery.

Earth Day: NASA’s spectacular view of our planet

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