Lake Chapala, Mexico

Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle and Space Station have tracked regional environmental changes spanning decades. Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest lake, serves as one example of an area experiencing significant changes that have been well documented from space. Over the past twenty years, the lake’s water levels have decreased in conjunction with increasing development from the fast-growing city of Guadalajara.

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Astronaut photograph STS005-37-758 was taken from the Space Shuttle in November 1982 using a Hasselblad medium format film camera equipped with a 100 mm lens. Photograph ISS009-E-5090 was acquired April 30, 2004 with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera with a 105 mm lens. The images are provided by the Earth Observations Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Published August 30, 2004

Source:

ISS > Digital Camera

Collection:

Astronaut Photography