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Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts
Published August 29, 2005
The modern Buzzards Bay is approximately 45 kilometers long by 12 kilometers wide and is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. The Cape Cod Canal allows for passage between Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod Bay to the northeast; the wakes of numerous pleasure craft appear along the length of the Canal.
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Forest Fire Smoke Surrounding Mt. McKinley
Published August 22, 2005
This view of Mt McKinley (Denali)—the highest point in North America (6,194 meters; 20,230 feet)—looks as if it were taken from an aircraft. In fact, an astronaut onboard the International Space Station took advantage of cloud-free skies and a powerful 800-millimeter lens to photograph this peak while the spacecraft was over the Gulf of Alaska, 800 miles to the south of the mountain. The powerful lenses are difficult to use, requiring motion compensation by the astronaut, so these kinds of detailed images of horizon detail are seldom taken. The rising sun casts long shadows across the Kahiltna Glacier that angles down from Denali (left).
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Retreating Aral Sea Coastlines
Published August 15, 2005
The arrow-shaped island in the Aral Sea used to be a 35-kilometer-long visual marker, indicating the Aral Sea to astronauts. An image from the present International Space Station increment shows how much the coastline has changed as the sea level has dropped during the last three decades.
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Grasberg Mine, Indonesia
Published August 1, 2005
Located in the Sudirman Mountains of the Irian Jaya province of Indonesia, the Grasberg complex is one of the largest gold and copper mining operations in the world.
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Dallas, Texas
Published July 25, 2005
The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area is the largest in Texas, with an approximate population of 6 million people in 2005.
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Hurricane Emily and Luna
Published July 20, 2005
This unusual high-oblique (from the side) panoramic view of the eye of Hurricane Emily in 2005 was shot by the crew of the International Space Station while they passed over the southern Gulf of Mexico looking eastward toward the rising moon. The eye appears as a depression in the cloud deck, which stretches out to the horizon and fades into the limb (the bright blue cross-section) of the Earth’s atmosphere. At the time this image was taken, Emily was a strengthening Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds approaching 155 miles per hour. The hurricane was moving west-northwest over the northwest Caribbean Sea about 135 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica.
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Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Published July 18, 2005
The city of Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia (after Riyadh), and is the country’s most important Red Sea port. This astronaut photograph depicts the downtown district of Al Balad, a residential area historically (and presently) occupied by wealthy merchants.
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Searles Lake, California
Published July 11, 2005
Searles Lake is known for the abundance of rare elements and evaporate minerals, such as trona, hanksite, and halite formed within its sediments. Evaporites are minerals that are left behind when saltwater evaporates. This astronaut photograph depicts the Searles Lake playa (characterized by white surface mineral deposits) bounded by the Argus and Slate Mountains. The width of the playa is approximately 10 kilometers. The center of the image is dominated by mining operations that extract sodium- and potassium-rich minerals (primarily borax and salt) for industrial use.
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Las Cruces, New Mexico
Published July 4, 2005
The city of Las Cruces is located within the Rio Grande Rift, a large geological feature that extends from Colorado southwards into Mexico. The Rio Grande Rift is marked by a series of depressions punctuated with uplifted mountains. Sinking in one place is often accompanied by uplift along boundaries of the grabens—the striking Organ Mountains to the east of Las Cruces are one such uplifted fault block.
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Sept-îles, Gulf of St Lawrence, Quebec, Canada
Published June 27, 2005
Seven Island Bay (left side of the image) is one of the largest and best-protected harbors on Quebec’s north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Because this is both a deep-water port and ice-free year round, Sept-Îles is one of Quebec’s busiest ports. Locally produced materials (iron ore, alumina) comprise the bulk of port traffic, but Sept-Îles also acts as a trans-shipment point for goods moving to Europe, the Far East, and South America.
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Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands
Published June 20, 2005
The Port of Rotterdam, also known as Europoort (Eurogate), has been an important trading center since approximately AD 1250. The history of the port reflects the evolution of the world’s economic base. Originally serving the North Sea herring fleets, it rapidly grew into a major mercantile port during the Dutch colonial period. The 19th century witnessed the Industrial Revolution, and steel and coal became major commodities passing through the port. Following the development of petroleum as a primary energy resource in the early 20th century, the port expanded westward to accommodate storage facilities and large oil tankers.
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Fire Scars in Australia’s Simpson Desert
Published June 13, 2005
Bright orange fire scars show up the underlying dune sand in the Simpson Desert, 300 kilometers east of Alice Springs, in this astronaut photograph taken from the International Space Station in November, 2003. The fire scars were produced in a recent fire, probably during the same year. The image suggests a time sequence of events. Fires first advanced into the view from the lower left—parallel with the major dune trend and dominant wind direction. Then the wind shifted direction by about 90 degrees so that fires advanced across the dunes in a series of frond-like tendrils.
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