1993–2011 Ocean Currents

Weekly evolution of ocean surface currents from January 1993 to December 2011. Strong currents such as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, the Kuroshio in the Pacific Ocean and the Agulhas Current along the east coast of Africa are visible. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Equatorial currents are also evident, with speeds reaching up to 1.5 m/s. Gravity data from the GOCE mission together with 20 years of satellite altimetry measurements and information from drifters were combined to create this animation of our moving oceans.

Video credit: ESA/CNES/CLS

Iran and Iraq Persian Gulf Coast

This image acquired over the Middle East shows the northern end of the Persian Gulf, along with the border of Iran and Iraq and the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab river.

The main part of the image covers Iran’s southern Khuzestan Province on the Persian Gulf.

The lines cutting through the middle of the image are roads, as well as the Trans-Iranian Railway.

In the upper-left corner, we can see part of the Karun River. It is the country’s only navigable river, originating in the Zagros mountains and running its 720 km course southwest and into the Shatt al-Arab river.

In addition to the Karun, the Shatt al-Arab also carries water from the Tigris and Euphrates to the Persian Gulf.

In the lower-left corner, we can see the Shatt al-Arab where it creates part of the border with Iraq. The marshy Faw Peninsula (part of which is visible to the extreme left) is the site of a number of important Iraqi oil installations.

The Persian Gulf and its coastal areas are the world’s largest single source of crude oil, with related industries dominating the region.

The center of the image is dominated by the marshes and mudflats of the Shadegan wildlife refuge. It is the largest wetland in Iran, and plays a significant role in the natural ecology of the area.

The area provides a wintering habitat for a wide variety of migratory birds, and is the most important site in the world for a rare species of aquatic bird – the marbled duck.

The northern part of the wetland is a vital freshwater habitat for many endangered species.

This image was acquired on 26 July 2012 by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper on Landsat 7. Landsat 7 imagery accounts for the largest parts of Earth’s surface displayed on web mapping services such as Google Earth and Google Maps.

Image credit: USGS/ESA

Western Uganda

Lakes and mountains of western Uganda are captured in this Envisat radar image.

The area pictured is part of the Albertine Rift, a branch of the East African Rift where the Somali Plate is splitting away from the rest of the continent.

In the upper right corner is Lake George. With the equator running right through the middle, this body of water is recognized as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty for the sustainable use of wetlands.

Its waters flow into the Kazinga Channel – known for its high concentration of hippopotami and Nile crocodiles – and then empty into Lake Edward at lower left.

The colors in the two lakes and connecting channel indicate changes in water level between acquisitions. On either side of the channel, large craters and crater-lakes dot the volcanic fields.

At the top of the image, we can see the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (west).

Its highest peak topping 5100 m, the mountain chain is home to numerous glaciers, waterfalls and lakes. However, climate change has negatively affected the glaciers, and subsequently the mountains’ vegetation and biodiversity.

To the south of the mountains, the bright pink, purple and green areas show where changes in the land’s surface occurred between the three radar scans that make up this composite image. These changes are primarily in vegetation as the land here is blanketed with agricultural plots. There is even a clear-cut line where agricultural activities end and the protected land begins.

This image was created by combining two acquisitions from Envisat’s radar on 14 June 2007, 14 February 2008 and 3 July 2008 over the same area and it is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: ESA

Wildfires in the Blue Mountains

A mild winter and an extremely hot September in Australia have led to an early start to the fire season Down Under. A number of significant bush fires continue to rage in the Blue Mountains to the west and north of Sydney, the most populous city in the country, with nearly 4.6 million people. The ongoing fires have led to the announcement of a state of emergency for the area, and days of high temperatures and strong winds have exacerbated the situation.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft passed over the region around 11:00 a.m. AEDT (00:00 UTC) on October 20, 2013. This stereo anaglyph is a composite of images from two of MISR's nine cameras; the nadir (0°) camera is shown in the blue/green channels and the Ba (45.6° aft) camera is shown in the red channel. The images have been rotated clockwise so that north is to the right and west is toward the top. The anaglyph can be viewed with standard red/blue 3D glasses with the red lens over the left eye.

Sydney itself is in the bottom center of the image, with much of its area covered by a thin cloud of smoke. The Blue Mountains rise about 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) above sea level, and analysis of the MISR data shows that the plume extending over the city is at an altitude of just over 1 mile (2 kilometers). On this date, the winds were relatively light and the temperature was around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius). The fires to the north have plumes that are somewhat lower in altitude.

The image extends from about 32.35 degrees south to 34.8 degrees south and 149.1 degrees east to 151.8 degrees east, covering about 168 miles (270 kilometers) in the north-south direction and 158 miles (255 kilometers) in the east-west direction. The images are a portion of the data acquired during Terra orbit 73608 from blocks 116 to 118 within World Reference System-2 path 90.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

Uruk, Iraq

The ancient city of Uruk is located in present-day Iraq, on an abandoned channel of the Euphrates River. Uruk gave its name to the Uruk period, spanning circa 4000 to 3100 BCE. At its height around 2900 BCE, Uruk had more than 50,000 residents, making it the largest city in the world. The semi-mythical king Gilgamesh ruled Uruk in the 27th century BCE. The city was occupied until around 500 AD, and was re-discovered in 1849. On the image, Uruk is the round yellowish area in the upper right. The image was acquired July 18, 2007, covers an area of 14.4 x 15.9 km, and is located at 31.3 degrees north latitude, 45.6 degrees east longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Earth, by Juno

On October 9, NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth, using our home planet's gravity to get the final boost it needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam instrument captured this monochrome view of Earth, and other instruments were tested to ensure they work as designed during a close planetary encounter.

The Juno spacecraft was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 5, 2011. Juno's rocket, the Atlas 551, was only capable of giving Juno enough energy or speed to reach the asteroid belt, at which point the Sun's gravity pulled Juno back toward the inner solar system. The Earth flyby gravity assist put Juno on course for arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Note: For more information, see PIA17516: Juno's Earth Flyby (Artist's Rendering).

Amazon River

This Kompsat-2 image, acquired on 6 July 2012, shows the Amazon River in the heart of northern Brazil’s rainforest. The false color makes land vegetation appear pink, while water appears green and dark blue. In the upper-right corner, we can see some sparse clouds. The shades of pink vary – the bolder color representing thick vegetation with lighter pink showing where trees were possibly cut down. In fact, in the upper-left portion of the image, there’s a clear line between the two shades, showing where vegetation was cut. The white dots show man-made structures. With their unique view from space, Earth observation satellites have been instrumental in highlighting the vulnerability of the rainforests by documenting the scale of deforestation.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Image credit: KARI/ESA

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

The desert southwest US is a showcase of geology. Canyonlands National Park in SE Utah is one such example. In this image, the Colorado River in the upper left corner forms the border of an area of outcrops of Permian (~280 million years old) Cedar Mesa Sandstone. Nearest the river, a series of arcuate faults has created a landscape of extremely narrow valleys. Further east a tributary of the Colorado has eroded the landscape into intricate feather-like drainage patterns. The image was acquired September 24, 2005, covers an area of 27 x 24 km, and is located near 38.1 degrees north latitude, 109.8 degrees west longitude.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Arcachon Bay and the Dune of Pyla, France

The Arcachon Bay in France’s southwest Aquitaine region is pictured in this image acquired on on 8 September 2009 by Japan’s ALOS observation satellite. At the center of the image, we can see the large Dune of Pyla as an elongated light-brown rectangle. This large, sandy dune is about 2.7 km long, 500 m wide and about 110 m tall. In the upper right portion of the image is Arcachon Bay, home to oyster beds and farms.

ALOS was supported as a Third Party Mission, which means that ESA used its multi-mission ground systems to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from the satellite to its user community. In April 2011 the satellite abruptly lost power while mapping Japan’s tsunami-hit coastline.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: JAXA, ESA

Southern Greenland

Clouds blur our view of the snow below in parts of this image acquired over the southern tip of Greenland by the Landsat-8 satellite on 30 May 2013. Long fjords reach far inland and, zooming in on the tips of some of their 'fingers', we can see ice streams that drain the Greenland ice sheet. In the lower part of the image, white dots speckle the North Atlantic Ocean, like stars in the night sky. These are icebergs that – although they appear insignificant in this image – pose a major threat to ships.

This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Photo credit: USGS/ESA