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Coastal Dunes, Brazil
Published October 20, 2003
The area shown here (10 kilometers across) is a small part of the dune field which is now protected as the Len&ccelde;óis Maranhenses National Park, on Brazil’s north coast, about 700 kilometers east of the Amazon River mouth. Persistent winds blow off the equatorial Atlantic Ocean onto Brazil from the east, driving white sand inland from the 100 kilometer stretch of coast (upper margin of the image), to form a large field of dunes. The strongly regular pattern of these dunes is a common characteristic of dune fields. The basic shape of each sand mass, repeated throughout the view, is a crescent-shaped dune. In an area with a rich supply of sand such as coastal Brazil, individual crescents coalesce to form entire chains many miles long. The wind strength and supply of sand are sufficient to keep the dunes active, and thus free of vegetation, despite 1500 mm (60 inches) of rainfall annually. The dark areas between the white dunes are fresh water ponds that draw fisherman to this newly established park.
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Toquepala Copper Mine, Southern Peru
Published October 13, 2003
The rugged, mineral-rich Andes support some of the world’s biggest mines (gold, silver, copper, and more). This image looks down the bullseye of Peru’s Toquepala copper mine, a steep sided and stepped open-pit mine.
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Johannesburg, South Africa
Published October 6, 2003
The center of Johannesburg is the fine-grained pattern (created by shadows cast from the high rise buildings in the city) in the center of this mosaic. On the southern fringe of Johannesburg is a line of light colored, angular patches stretching across the scene. These patches are the great “mine dumps,” the crushed rock that remains after gold extraction from numerous gold mines.
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Noumea, New Caledonia
Published September 29, 2003
New Caledonia represents a nexus of cultures and resources. At its center is Grande Terre, the third largest island in the Pacific. The indigenous population is Melanesian, with a Polynesian minority, but New Caledonia remains a French territory. A prime tourist destination, the island supports the second largest barrier reef in the world (over 1300 kilometers long) with one of the highest levels of biodiversity. This astronaut photograph shows details of New Caledonia’s main city, Noumea, which is built on a peninsula that juts into the lagoon on the southwest side of the island. The reefs here face localized problems from pollution and overfishing. The picture also shows how urban development extends to the steep slopes of the coastal hills.
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Fires in British Columbia
Published September 24, 2003
This image taken by the crew of the International Space Station on August 20, 2003, illustrates how smoke has become trapped in valleys. Normally air temperature decreases with altitude; in other words, the higher up you are, the colder it is. Warmer, more buoyant air near the surface of the Earth usually rises into the atmosphere, carrying away air pollutants such as smoke. However, sometimes the “higher equals colder” relationship breaks down, for example, here in the northern Rockies, where light winds and cold air drainage from the higher elevations have created “temperature inversions,” making the air in the valley colder and denser than the air at the mountain peaks.
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Victoria Falls, Zambezi River
Published September 22, 2003
Victoria Falls, on the Zambezi River, is one of the most famous tourist sites in subsaharan Africa. Details of the Falls are visible in this image taken with the 800 mm lens by Astronaut Edward Lu from the Space Station on September 4, 2003. The positions of the falls are controlled by linear fault lines in the underlying basalt rocks. The falls have moved upstream (bottom to top) by intense river erosion, elongating the zig-zag gorge in the process. Prior positions of the strongly linear falls can be detected. The earliest on this cropped view may have been the longest (dashed line). The zig-zags represent subsequent positions, all with the characteristic water-worn lip on the upstream side. The falls will continue to erode northward.
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Hurricane Isabel
Published September 16, 2003
From his vantage point high above the earth in the International Space Station, Astronaut Ed Lu captured this broad view of Hurricane Isabel.
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Astronaut Ed Lu captured this image of the eye of Hurricane Isabel as he passed overhead in the International Space Station on September 15, 2003. The storm had weakened somewhat, but still maintained its status as a Category 4 hurricane.
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Astronaut Ed Lu snapped this photo of the eye of Hurricane Isabel from the International Space Station on September 13, 2003 at 11:18 UTC. At the time, Isabel was located about 450 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. It had dropped to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, packing winds of 150 miles per hour with gusts up to 184 miles per hour. This photo reveals the structure of Isabel’s eyewall.
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Published September 15, 2003
Astronaut Ed Lu captured this broad-view photograph of Hurricane Isabel from the International Space Station on September 13, 2003. At the time, Isabel was located about 450 miles northeast of Puerto Rico and packed winds of 150 miles per hour with gusts up to 184 miles per hour.
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Merapi Volcano, Java
At 2,911 meters, the summit of Merapi Volcano and its vigorous steam plume rises above a bank of stratus clouds on its southern flank on August 24, 2003. One of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, it has been almost continuously active for nearly ten years, including periodic pyroclastic flows (hot ash and rock debris) and avalanches. The volcano is located less than 25 miles north of the city of Yogykarta in central Java. More than 50,000 people live adjacent the treacherous southwestern slope, where volcanic material often sloughs from the unstable summit. Note the deep ravines on the eastern slopes providing rich soils and moisture to the agriculture below.
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Hurricane Fabian
Published September 8, 2003
Astronauts on board the International Space Station photographed Hurricane Fabian on September 4, 2003 as it churned towards Bermuda. At the time the photo was taken, Fabian had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and was moving to the north-northwest at 12 mph.
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