Lake Gairdner

Lake Gairdner in central South Australia is pictured in this image acquired by Japan’s ALOS satellite on 1 December 2009.

The Lake Gairdner National Park – which includes the nearby lakes Everard and Harris – was established in 1991 for its significant wildlife habitat and natural features.

While the area is hot and dry in summer, spring brings water and is a popular destination for birdwatchers. Red and western grey kangaroos, emus and feral camels can also be seen here.

When flooded, Gairdner is one of the largest salt lakes in Australia, more than 160 km long and 48 km wide. But when dry, the vast salt pan attracts racers attempting to set land speed records and is the site for the annual Speed Week event.

This image shows mostly the dry, salt-crusted lakebed, while the islands appear brick-red.

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Bauxite Mines Near Weipa, Queensland, Australia

The world's largest bauxite mine is found near Weipa, Queensland, Australia. The rich aluminum deposits were first recognized on the end of the Cape York Peninsula in 1955, and mining began in 1960. Weipa is just south of Duyfken Point, a location thought to be the first recorded point of European contact with the Australia continent by Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon in 1606. The image was acquired August 9, 2013, covers an area of 40.5 by 48 km, and is located at 12.5 degrees south, 141.9 degrees east.

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

Kumbunbur Creek, Australia

This false-color satellite image shows the Kumbunbur Creek in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 260 km southwest of the city of Darwin.

The green ‘branches’ of what looks like a tree are the waterways of runoff that flow into the Timor Sea (not pictured).

The false-color makes vegetation appear bright red, and we can clearly see how vegetation grows mainly along the waterways. Vegetation is more evenly dispersed across the plain to the north.

The image was captured by the Kompsat-2 satellite on 20 September 2011, near the end of the dry season. The dry areas with a somewhat dull color in this image become flooded mudflats during the rainy season.

The rainy season occurs during a tropical area’s summer months because of increased heat from the Sun’s more direct impact angle. Higher temperatures lead to an increase in evaporation and rising, warm air masses. This air expands and cools, leading to the formation of cumulus clouds, and almost daily rainfall and thunderstorms.

As seasons change, the location of these rainfalls travels to areas with the highest Sun impact angles, resulting in wet and dry seasons in different zones of the tropics.

The tropics are the region of Earth north and south of the equator. Some areas of northern Australia are part of the tropical climate zone.

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

Image credit: KARI/ESA

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Australia

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is a city in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The town was founded in 1893 when gold was discovered in the so-called "Golden Mile." The area boomed, with an area population of over 200,000; by 1903 Kalgoorlie grew to 30,000, close to its present population. The concentrated area of large gold mines is considered to be the richest square mile on earth. The image was acquired November 26, 2013, covers an area of 20.2 x 21.9 km, and is located at 30.8 degrees south, 121.5 degrees east.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Flinders Ranges, Australia

This image from Japan’s ALOS satellite shows part of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, about 500 km north of Adelaide.

The area pictured is between Flinders Ranges National Park to the south, Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park to the north and Lake Frome due east (none of which is pictured).

The curving structures that dominate this image are part of a larger geosyncline – a subsiding linear trough in Earth’s crust – that includes the Flinders Ranges. The geosyncline consists of sedimentary rocks in a basin that were folded about 500 million years ago and have been eroded to the current landscape. In this image, the different colors show the different layers of rock.

Some of the oldest fossilised animal life have been found in parts of the Flinders Ranges.

Running up the middle of this image is a long, narrow gorge – typical of the ranges.

Along the right side of the image, the terrain is flat with a long, straight road running north–south. Numerous creeks appear like veins across the entire image.

The Flinders Ranges is one of Australia’s most seismically active regions, with numerous small earthquakes recorded every year.

Japan’s Advanced Land Observation Satellite captured this image on 3 January 2009. 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.

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

Image credit: JAXA/ESA

Wildfire Scars in New South Wales, Australia

October 2013 brought the worst fires seen in Australia's New South Wales in many decades. More than 100 wildfires burned. One of the largest was the Hall Road fire, southwest of Sydney, west of the town of Wollongong. The fire scar is seen in this satellite image acquired November 14, 2013, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Vegetation is displayed in shades of red, burned areas are dark gray, water is black and blue, and urban areas are blue-gray. The image covers an area of 20 by 24 miles (33 by 39 kilometers), and is located at 34.3 degrees south latitude, 150.7 degrees east longitude.

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

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

Uluru/Ayer's Rock

Uluru/Ayers Rock in the Australian outback is featured in this image from the Kompsat-2 satellite. The rock formation is anInselberg– German for ‘island mountain’ – a prominent geological structure that rises from the surrounding plain.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, this part of Australia was a shallow sea. Layers of sandstone settled on the ocean floor and were compressed. These hardened, horizontal layers were uplifted and tilted almost 90º upwards to their present position. The rock eroded slower than the surrounding softer deposits until the monolith stood high above an otherwise flat surface. From this perpendicular angle of the satellite acquisition, we can see those layers that were once horizontal and now appear to cut across the top of the formation.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Kompsat-2 satellite acquired this image on 15 September 2011. ESA supports Kompsat as a Third Party Mission, meaning it uses its ground infrastructure and expertise to acquire, process and distribute data to users.

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

Photo credit: KARI/ESA

Changes in Australia's Mass, June 2010 to February 2011

Changes in Australia's mass as reported by data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites from June 2010 to February 2011. Areas in greens and blues depict the greatest increases in mass, caused by excessive precipitation. The contour lines represent various land surface elevations. A new study co-authored and co-funded by NASA finds extensive flooding in Australia, combined with the continent's soils and unique topography, were the biggest contributors to the drop in global sea level observed in 2010 and 2011.

Image credit: NCAR/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Note: For more information, see Littlest Continent Had Biggest Role in Sea Level Drop.

North Stradbroke Island, Australia

North Stradbroke Island, 30 km southeast of Brisbane, Australia, is one of the largest sand islands in the world.

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

Macquarie Island, Australia

Macquarie Island lies halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica, and is part of Tasmania. Accidentally discovered in 1810, the island was used by sealers and as a base for Antarctic expeditions. In 1933 the island was declared a wildlife sanctuary, and in 1997 listed as a World Heritage Site. Birdlife International identified Macquarie as an Important Bird Area because it supports 3.5 million breeding seabirds of 13 species, including 5 breeds of penguins. The image is located at 54.6 degrees south latitude, 159 degrees east longitude, covers an area of 10 by 36 km, and was acquired January 9, 2011.

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

Shark Bay, Australia

Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is located in the Shark Bay World Heritage Site in Western Australia. It is one of the very few places in the world where living stromatolites can be found. These are the first living examples of structures built by cyanobacteria. These bacteria are direct descendants of the oldest form of photosynthetic life on earth, dating back 3,500 million years (Wikipedia). The image was acquired December 30, 2010, covers an area of 34 x 46 km, and is located at 26.4 degrees south latitude, 114.1 degrees east longitude.

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

3D View of Siding Spring Observatory Wildfire

In mid-January, 2013, a massive wildfire damaged Australia's largest optical astronomy facility, the Siding Spring Observatory, causing significant damage. All of the workers were safely evacuated, but five buildings, including a visitors' center and lodge, were badly damaged. The facility remains closed while the extent of damage is assessed. Australia has suffered both its hottest summer on record, and a devastating wildfire season. This was one of numerous large fires that have devastated the country.

This 3-D perspective view image was created from data acquired February 4, 2013, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. The image is located near 31.2 degrees south latitude, 149 degrees east longitude.

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

Melbourne at Night

Melbourne, Australia, at night taken by ESA astronaut André Kuipers from the International Space Station with the NightPod camera aid.

Cameras mounted on NightPod track the movement of Earth as it flies under the Space Station. Night-time photographs are less blurred and captured in higher detail.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA

Salt Lake in the Australian Outback

The Australian Outback is full of colorful geological structures, such as this salt lake.

This photo was taken by ESA astronaut André Kuipers and released during Earth Hour on Saturday 31 March 2012.

Earth Hour is a world effort to raise awareness about the need to take action on climate change. World Wide Fund for Nature ambassador André Kuipers and ESA supported the initiative.

Photo credit: ESA/NASA