Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Lake Pontchartrain and the Bonnet Carre Spillway, Louisiana
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Published May 12, 2008
Lake Pontchartrain, immediately north of New Orleans, occupies the upper part of this astronaut photograph from April 29, 2008, with the winding course of the muddy Mississippi River snaking across the bottom of the view (flow is eastward, from left to right). The city of New Orleans is sandwiched between the lake and the river.
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Burren Plateau, County Clare, Ireland
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Published May 5, 2008
Adjoining Galway Bay to the north, the Burren Plateau (Burren is Gaelic for “stony place”) is an example of karst terrain. Karst terrain is generally formed when sedimentary rocks are dissolved by groundwater. This astronaut photograph illustrates the northwestern-most portion of the Burren Plateau, which is characterized by the distinctive bare exposures of almost horizontal, layered Paleozoic-age limestone rocks that form Gleninagh Mountain.
Los Angeles at Night
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Published May 1, 2008
In this image, an astronaut photograph of the Los Angeles area is overlaid on a topographic image made from the United States Geological Survey National Elevation Dataset (1 arcsecond resolution). The grid of streets is outlined by orange (sodium vapor) and blue-green (mercury vapor) lights. The airport, the naval docks, and downtown LA are especially bright.
Cerro Culiacan, Mexico
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Published April 28, 2008
This astronaut photograph highlights Cerro (Spanish for “hill”) Culiacan, part of the 50,000 km2 Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field of west-central Mexico. The volcanic field contains over 1,400 known vents, with cinder cones, steep, cone-shaped hills, being the dominant landform. Cerro Culiacan however, is a shield volcano, a more gently sloping mound formed by basaltic lavas.
Tokyo at Night
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Published April 22, 2008
This nighttime photograph of Tokyo, Japan, was taken by International Space Station astronaut Dan Tani on February 5, 2008. The heart of the city is brightest, with ribbons of lights radiating outward from the center along streets and railways.
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Cananea Copper Mine, Sonora, Mexico
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Published April 21, 2008
One of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, the Cananea mine produced over 164,000 tonnes of copper in 2006. The active, 2-kilometer-diameter Colorada Pit is recognizable by the concentric steps, or benches, cut around its perimeter.
Harrat Khaybar Volcanic Field
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Published April 14, 2008
The western half of the Arabian Peninsula contains not only large expanses of sand and gravel, but extensive lava fields known as haraat. One such field is the 14,000-square-kilometer Harrat Khaybar, located approximately 137 kilometers to the northeast of the city of Al Madinah (Medina). The volcanic field was formed by eruptions along a 100-kilometer, north-south vent system over the past 5 million years. The most recent recorded eruption took place between 600–700 AD.
Semien Mountains, Ethiopia
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Published April 7, 2008
The Semien Mountains are the highest parts of the Ethiopian Plateau (more than 2,000 meters; or 6,560 feet). They are surrounded by a steep, ragged escarpment (step), with dramatic vertical cliffs, pinnacles, and rock spires. Although the plateau lies in the latitude of the Sahara–Arabia deserts, its high altitude makes for a cool, wet climate. In fact, the Semien Mountains are one of the few places in Africa to regularly receive snow, and they receive plentiful rainfall (more than 1,280 millimeters, or 55 inches). The moderate climate is shown by light green vegetation on the mountains, compared with the brown canyons, which are hot and dry.
Dendi Caldera, Ethiopia
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Published March 31, 2008
The approximately 4-kilometer-wide Dendi Caldera includes some of this silica-rich volcanic rock: the rim of the caldera, visible in this astronaut photograph, is mostly made of poorly consolidated ash erupted during the Tertiary Period (approximately 65–2 million years ago).
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Al Wadj Bank, Saudi Arabia
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Published March 24, 2008
Saudi Arabia boasts the most coral reefs of any Middle Eastern country, as it includes coastline along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. This high-resolution astronaut photograph shows part of the Al Wadj Bank, located along the northern Red Sea coast. Despite the relatively high salinity of Red Sea water (compared to other oceans), approximately 260 species of coral have been documented in the region.
Lake Fucine, Italy
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Published March 17, 2008
The light tan oval in this image is the floor of a lake in central Italy that has been drained by a tunnel dug through the surrounding hills. Numerous rectangular fields occupy the former lake bottom—now one of the most fertile regions of Italy. The area is still referred to as “Fucine Lake,” even though the lake has been dry for nearly 150 years.
Cumulonimbus Cloud over Africa
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Published March 10, 2008
Perhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for “pile” and “rain cloud”) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist, and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes.