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Turin, Italy
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Published February 13, 2006
Located in the Piedmont (Piemonte in Italian) region of northwestern Italy, the city of Turin (Torino) is an important industrial and cultural center, and it hosted the Twentieth Olympic Winter Games. The city is located on the northern banks of the famous Po River. Two of the Po’s major tributaries are visible in this image, Stura di Lanzo and the Malone River.
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Confluence of Ohio and Mississippi Rivers at Cairo, IL
Published February 6, 2006
The Ohio River becomes a tributary of the Mississippi River directly south of Cairo, Illinois, a small city on the spit of land where the rivers converge. Brown, sediment-laden water flowing generally northeast to south from the Ohio River is distinct from the green and relatively sediment-poor water of the Mississippi River (flowing northwest to south). The color of the rivers in this image is reversed from the usual condition of a green Ohio and a brown Mississippi.
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Sierra Nevada, Spain
Published January 30, 2006
The Sierra Nevada, part of the Betic Cordillera of southern Spain, were formed during the Alpine Orogeny, a mountain-building event that also formed the European Alps to the east and the Atlas Mountains of northern Africa across the Mediterranean Sea. Veleta Peak, at an elevation of 3,398 meters (11,148 feet) above sea level, is a popular destination for skiers and snowboarders. This astronaut photograph depicts the Veleta Peak region of the range and illustrates the sharp contrast between the snow-capped mountains, adjacent dry lowlands to the west and north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.
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Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela
Published January 23, 2006
Ciudad Guayana lies on the south bank of the Orinoco River, the second largest in South America, at its confluence with the Caroní River (lower left). Islands have developed in the Orinoco in a wide spot opposite the city (upper left). A low barrage (lower left) dams the Caroní as a water supply for the city. The Orinoco River is a muddy brown, carrying sediment produced by erosion of the Andes Mountains far to the southwest. By contrast, the Caroní is clear blue, as it drains the ancient landscapes of the Guyana Highlands, where erosion is much slower. As at the famous confluence of the muddy Amazon and clear Negro rivers in Amazonia, a mixing zone can be seen in the middle of this image. The clear Caroní water produces a less muddy zone for tens of kilometers downstream of the confluence (this part of the Orinoco flows almost due east, left to right).
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Forest Fire, Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge, LA
Published January 16, 2006
Dry conditions and high winds have lead to numerous recent fire outbreaks throughout much of the southwestern and south-central USA. Drought conditions have persisted in the region for months, leading to a build-up of fire fuels, including dried grasses, shrubs, and trees. The combination of high amounts of dry fuel and frequent high winds has stoked small fires into widespread brush fires. This astronaut photograph captures a 25-kilometer long smoke plume from a fire in the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Louisiana. The fire started at approximately 1:00 p.m. on January 2, 2006, and this image was acquired approximately three and a half hours later as the International Space Station passed over the Texas-Louisiana border, to the southwest of the scene.
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Lake Nasser and the New Valley
Published January 2, 2006
Heavy rains in the source regions of the Nile in the 1990s resulted in record water levels in Lake Nasser. In 1997, Lake Nasser began flooding westward down a spillway into the Toshka depression in southern Egypt, creating four new lakes over the next few years.
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Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
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Published December 19, 2005
The built-up areas of Cabo (cape) San Lucas stand out as bright, angular areas inland from the main bay on the tip of the Baja California peninsula. Dry river beds descend from rugged, wooded hills to the coastline. River sands then accumulate to form the white beaches visible along the coastline adjacent to the city.
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Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Published December 12, 2005
The largest salar (salt flat) in the world, Salar de Uyuni, is located within the Altiplano of Bolivia in South America. This astronaut photograph features the northern end of the salar and the dormant volcano Mount Tunupa (image center). This mountain is high enough to support a summit glacier, and enough rain falls on the windward slopes to provide water for small communities along the base. The dark volcanic rocks comprising Mt. Tunupa are in sharp contrast with the white, mineral-crusted surface of the salar. The major minerals are halite (common table salt) and gypsum (a common component of drywall).
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Plankton Plume, North Island, New Zealand
Published December 5, 2005
Along the Pacific coast of New Zealand’s North Island, the advance of austral spring returns the sunlight needed to spur phytoplankton blooms. In the center of this slightly enhanced image captured on October 27, 2005, a plume extends from the coastline (near Castlepoint in the southern part of North Island) and rotates in an offshore eddy. Another broader swath of less-intensely colored plankton appears in the lower part of the picture. Both plankton masses are being swept offshore (eastward) by waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
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Algodones Dunefield, California
Published November 21, 2005
Fans of the Star Wars series of films may recognize the Algodones Dunefield—also known as the Imperial Dunes—as portions of the imaginary planet of Tatooine. While not planetary in scale, this dunefield located at the junction of three states (Arizona and California in the United States; Baja California del Norte in Mexico) is a distinctive feature of North America. The field is approximately 72 kilometers long by 10 kilometers wide (45 miles by 6 miles) and extends along a northwest-southeast line that correlates to the prevailing northerly and westerly wind directions. The dune field is a wilderness area, with the only human structure being the All American Canal that cuts across the southern portion from west to east (right side of view). A checkerboard pattern of farms in the Colorado River flood plain is visible on the Mexican side of the border (far right). Wisps of cloud obscure the Cargo Muchacho Mountains (top).
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Rosario, Argentina
Published November 7, 2005
The Paraná River, in the center of the view, has been the principal transportation artery of central South America since the times of early colonization. Consequently, the river gave rise to the growth of port cities such as Argentina’s second city, Rosario (bottom center), now a major industrial center (pop. > 1.1 million). Rosario is the center of a vibrant local agricultural economy—intensive agriculture is visible on the left margin of the view. As such, Rosario is one of the key cities in South America’s MERCOSUR common market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay). Other cities have expanded along the river bank, especially northward (for example, Capitan Bermudez, top left).
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Lake Nasser, Egypt
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Published November 3, 2005
One of the world’s largest artificial lakes, Lake Nasser is named after the Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, who is largely responsible for the lake’s creation. President Nasser decided to build the Aswan High Dam across the Nile, forming a lake approximately 550 kilometers (340 miles) long.
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