Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Napoli and Volcanism - Vesuvius and Mt. Etna
540 x 540 JPEG
Published November 4, 2001
For more than 240 million years the region now known as Italy has been the scene of episodic volcanic activity. East-southeast of Napoli (Naples) stands the imposing cone of Vesuvius, which erupted explosively in 79 A.D. to bury Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Related images:
1019 x 1021 582 KB - JPEG
Jungfrau and Interlaken, Switzerland
Published October 21, 2001
The Bernese Alps form the centerpiece of this late summer view of Switzerland; Jungfrau (4158 m), Moench (4089 m), and Eiger (3970 m) are among the higher peaks of the Central Alps. North of the range is the city of Interlaken, flanked by the Thune See and Brienzer See (lakes); the long, straight-segmented valley of the Rhone lies to the south.
2040 x 2045 1006 KB Bytes - JPEG
Urban Growth in Cairo 1965-98
1054 x 842 214 KB - JPEG
Published September 16, 2001
Astronaut photographs from the Gemini era and from the space shuttle reveal tremendous growth.
1214 x 956 393 KB - JPEG
Klamath Basin, California-Oregon
Published August 19, 2001
The Klamath Basin, on the California-Oregon border, had been in the news because of water shortages due to the drought in the United States’ Pacific Northwest. Diverse interest groups have come into conflict over the limited availability of Klamath Project water. In order to protect endangered Sucker Fish and threatened Coho Salmon in Upper Klamath Lake, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cut off the flow of irrigation water to farmers in the project in April 2001.
3391 x 3388 602 KB - JPEG
Mayon Volcano, Southeast Luzon, Philippines
540 x 405 JPEG
Published July 15, 2001
Mayon volcano is the most active volcano in the Philippines, located just north of the coastal town of Legaspi in southern Luzon about 325 km southeast of Manila. Mayon is a near-perfect cone; its steep, forested slopes look rather like a bull’s eye when viewed from above.
2000 x 2028 2 MB - JPEG
Egypt’s North Sinai Agricultural Development
540 x 579 JPEG
Published June 10, 2001
This time series of photographs of the Mediterranean coast near the Suez Canal shows ten years of changes associated with two of Egypt’s “Mega” Development Projects. At the mouth of the canal, a large auxiliary channel has been formed as part of a new central hub port and industrial zone, known as the East Port-Said Project. Further south, the effects of the Al-Salam (El Salam or “Peace”) Canal and North Sinai Agricultural Development Program can be seen as desert is converted to irrigated agriculture.
1110 x 1190 1 MB Bytes - JPEG
Salt Evaporation Ponds, Dead Sea
1286 x 1316 2 MB - JPEG
Published May 13, 2001
The complex of Jordanian salt evaporation ponds at the southern end of the Dead Sea has expanded significantly over the past dozen years. The western margin of the salt ponds marks the Jordan-Israel border. In August 1989, when the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-28 photographed the region, the northern extension did not exist and the large polygonal ponds in the northwestern and northeastern sectors had not been subdivided. In the view taken by the STS-102 crew in March 2001, one can see that there has also been expansion at the southeastern end, and that levees now segment the northeastern wedge into four ponds.
1286 x 1280 2 MB - JPEG
Gobi Dust Over Northeast China and Korea
540 x 546 JPEG
Published May 6, 2001
Dust blowing off the Gobi desert eastward across the China toward the Pacific Ocean is a common event in April. Space Shuttle astronauts have photographed these dusts storms several times. These photographs, taken by astronauts on April 25, 1990, show a thick blanket of dust that entirely obscures the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. The dust is being transported from west (left) to east (right). The mountainous spine of the peninsula induces gravity waves in the dust cloud on the downwind (east) side.
540 x 535 43 KB - JPEG
Another New Lake in Egypt
4127 x 4096 848 KB - JPEG
Published April 22, 2001
As the Space Shuttle Atlantis passed over southern Egypt in mid-March 2001, the STS-102 astronauts were able to document new flooding in the Toshka region west of Lake Nasser. The formation of the Toshka Lakes in southern Egypt is part of Egypt’s New Valley Project. The flooding of the region has been monitored by astronauts since 1998, and continues to show rapid changes.
Mt. Kilimanjaro’s Receding Glaciers
Published April 8, 2001
Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), the highest point in all Africa, was photographed by the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-97 on December 2, 2000. Kilimanjaro (Kilima Njaro or “shining mountain” in Swahili) is capped by glaciers on its southern and southwestern flanks.
2048 x 2048 1 MB Bytes - JPEG