Ganges River Delta
Big Kids, Grography, Little Kids

4 Amazing Satellite Images of Earth

March 12, 2012
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Wolfy
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From Wires Magazine:

Ten years ago on March 1, the European Space Agency launched an 8-ton satellite called Envisat that would deliver back to Earth some of the most beautiful images of our planet taken from space.

Since then, Envisat has orbited Earth more than 50,000 times and has lived twice as long as planned. [Wired]

Satellite Images

Here are my favorite images from this collection. Click the images to view more.

California an dNevada from Space
The contrasting landscape of the western U.S. states of California (left) and Nevada (right) are highlighted in this Envisat image, acquired Feb. 9, 2011. The Sierra Nevada mountain range (snow-capped) runs along California’s eastern edge. Lake Tahoe (visible) is located in the Sierra Nevada on the California–Nevada border. Also visible in the image are the California cities of San Francisco (whitish area on the peninsula surrounding the San Francisco Bay, center left) and Los Angeles (sprawling grey area, bottom left).

Obviously this one is my favorite, cause it’s a picture of my home. I live in Reno, Nevada, which is very near the big lake surrounded by snowy mountains in the center of the image. The other big lakes are Mono Lake to the south, east of the mountains and Pyramid Lake, to the north. Both Pyramid and Mono Lakes are salty lakes.

Mt. Etna Erupting from space
This Envisat MERIS image, acquired on Jan. 11, 2011, shows the plume of smoke billowing into the atmosphere from Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy. Activity gradually increased the following day, peaking in the evening.

Volcanoes are cool. Mt. Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe. It is a stratovolcano and lives in the Mediterranean Sea on the Italian island of Sicily.

phytoplankton bloom
In this Envisat image, acquired on Dec. 2, 2011, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colors, such as the blues and greens in this image. Earth-observing satellites like Envisat can monitor these algal blooms. Once a bloom begins, an ocean color sensor can make an initial identification of its chlorophyll pigment, and therefore its species and toxicity.

The amazing thing about this image, is that one of the smallest animals in the ocean, can still be seen from space. This is because though the individuals are very small, they occur in such large numbers that the whole population is very very large.

Ganges River Delta
As radar images represent surface backscatter rather than reflected light, there is no color in a standard radar image. This image was created by combining three Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar acquisitions (Jan. 20, 2009, Feb. 24, 2009 and March 31, 2009) taken over the same area. The colors in the image result from variations in the surface that occurred between acquisitions.

The Ganges is one of the largest rivers in the world. It also is one of the most used, with over 400 million people residing in it’s basin. That population impacts the river making it one of the most polluted waterways in the world as well.

This is the Delta of the Ganges River. A Delta is the place where a river meets the sea. Deltas have very low slope so rivers slow down, spread out and meander, or wind around in big loops.

Envisat

Envisat is the largest Earth observing space craft ever built. It is operated by the European Space Agency.

Launched in 2002, Envisat is the largest Earth Observation spacecraft ever built. It carries ten sophisticated optical and radar instruments to provide continuous observation and monitoring of the Earth’s land, atmosphere, oceans and ice caps. Envisat data collectively provide a wealth of information on the workings of the Earth system, including insights into factors contributing to climate change. [ESA]

For more amazing images from Envisat, check the Envisat gallery on the ESA website.

-Mike

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