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Lake Valencia, Venezuela
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Published November 22, 2004
Lago de Valencia (Lake Valencia) is located in north-central Venezuela and is the largest freshwater lake in the country. The lake was formed approximately 2-3 million years ago due to faulting and subsequent damming of the Valencia River. The lake has been completely dry during several discrete periods of its geologic history. Since 1976 Lake Valencia water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds—it currently acts as a reservoir for the surrounding urban centers (such as Maracay).
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Corrientes, Argentina, and the Parana River
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Published November 8, 2004
Corrientes, Argentina (sits on the east bank of the Paraná River, South America’s third largest river. Corrientes is located just inside Argentina, across the river from the southwestern tip of Paraguay.
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Gebel Edmonstone, Egypt
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Published November 1, 2004
Gebel (or Mount) Edmonstone is a flat-topped mesa located near the Dahkla Oasis south of Cairo, Egypt. The Oasis is a historically important meeting place of several trade routes connecting different regions of Egypt and Sudan. Gebel Edmonstone is a remnant of an eroding scarp that extends for over 200 kilometers (125 miles) east-southeast to west-northwest (visible in the upper left corner of the image). The flat caprock of both the scarp and Mount Edmonstone is chalky limestone underlain by fossil-bearing shale and fine-grained sedimentary rocks.
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Steam Plume, Mount St. Helens
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Published October 25, 2004
Early in October 2004 Mt. St. Helens rumbled back to life with earthquakes, minor eruptions of steam and ash, and renewed growth of the summit lava dome. Fortuitous trajectories of the International Space Station provided the ISS crew excellent views of the area.
Maipo Volcano, Chile
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Published October 18, 2004
The high peaks of the Andes form the backbone of South America and the political border between Chile and Argentina. Formed from the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate, the south-central Andes also includes several major volcanoes. One of the most active border volcanoes is Volcan Maipo, located just southeast of Santiago, Chile. This image from the International Space Station shows the volcano near the southern hemisphere spring equinox. The lake, just east of Maipo’s peak, is still ice-covered. However, the increasing temperatures of spring are suggested by a muddy-looking streak near the lower left corner. The streak appears to be a landslide or avalanche that flowed westward down a rugged slope, possibly triggered by instability in the snowpack due to snow melt.
Lake Teletskoye, Russia
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Published October 11, 2004
Lake Teletskoye, one of Siberia’s prime tourist destinations, is a large lake that is nestled in a narrow valley between the snow-capped Al-tyntu (west, at top) and Korbu (east, at bottom) mountain ridges of the Altai Mountains. The lake is nearly 80 kilometers long by 5 kilometers wide and 325 meters deep; it is one of the deepest lakes in the world. But Lake Teletskoye is more than a large, deep lake. It is located within the 9,000 km² Altaisky Zapovednik nature reserve, which helps protect its unspoiled waters.
Ad Dahna Sand Cordon, Saudi Arabia
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Published September 27, 2004
Astronauts have obtained thousands of detailed images of the world’s remote deserts, helping scientists better understand local geomorphological features in a regional context. Driven by northwesterly winds, sands from northwest Saudi Arabia have accumulated in the center of the country as great rivers of dunes (cordons) that extend for hundreds of kilometers. About 320 kilometers northwest of Riyadh, the steep, almost cliff-like margin of the Ad Dahna cordon casts a shadow (right center; diagonally across the scene). Two types of dune surface appear: the tracery of numerous linear dunes (center) and a featureless sand sheet (lower left). Dark, older rocks (30-65 million years old—top right) underlie the sand sea and crop out northeast of the cordon. Convergent dry river beds appear top right.
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Plankton Bloom in Lake Titicaca
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Published September 20, 2004
At an average elevation of 3,812 meters (12,507 feet), Lake Titicaca is one of the highest lakes in the world. The lake is positioned between two major ranges of the Andes Mountain chain and has very limited drainage. The limited outflow of the lake allows for the accumulation of nutrients derived primarily from surrounding communities’ agricultural and sewage waste. The increased nutrient levels can lead to plankton blooms. This astronaut photograph, taken from the International Space Station, captures two such blooms along the eastern shoreline of the lake.
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Hurricane Ivan
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Published September 13, 2004
This photo of Hurricane Ivan was snapped as the International Space Station passed over the eye of the storm on Saturday, September 11, 2004, about 15 minutes after 23:00 GMT (7 p.m. EDT). At the time, Ivan was wobbling west off its predicted course, its eye just missing Jamaica. The storm was a powerful and dangerous Category 5 storm with sustained winds reaching to 270 kilometers per hour (165 mph) and higher gusts.
Ksudach Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia
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Some of the world’s most active volcanoes make up the spine of the Kamchatka Peninsula in far east Russia. Kamchatka is the northwestern edge of the Pacific “ring of fire,” where earthquakes and volcanism are caused by ongoing subduction of the Pacific oceanic plate beneath the Eurasian plate. This astronaut photograph profiles the summit area of Ksudach Volcano, also called Voniuchi Khrebet Volcano, in southern Kamchatka. White snow on the ridges in this image contrasts with the dark volcanic soils and highlights the well-developed radial drainage pattern down the slopes of the volcano.
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Lake Maracaibo Duck Weed
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Published September 6, 2004
Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo presents a complicated surface to interpret. Oil platforms and other infrastructure supporting the oil industry generate oil slicks, heavy ship traffic produces linear ship wakes, and vivid green streaks and swirls are patches of duck weed growth that has thrived on the lake.
Hurricane Frances
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Published August 31, 2004
This image of Hurricane Frances was acquired by the crew of the International Space Station early on August 30 as the storm was moving westward some 265 miles east-northeast of the northern Windward Islands.