Satellites orbiting the earth are able to give us breathtaking views of all kinds of activity from exploding volcanoes in Chile to dust storms in Asia.The images and the information they reveal is already helping governments and aid organisations tackle major crises and react to ecological damaging activities, such as deforestation in Bolivia or potential famine in Kenya.We've collected together some of the most interesting photos featured on the
Earth Observatory, a website run by NASA's Earth Observing System Project Science Office (EOSPSO).
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| Provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. |
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| Here a large dust storm, shown as a light brown mass, is seen spanning a wide swath of central Asia from Afghanistan, along the length of Turkmenistan, to the Caspian Sea. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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| The swirls of colour off the coast of Mexico are most likely to be sediment in the water. According to NASA, the sediment scatters light, giving the water its colour. Some of the colour may also come from phytoplankton, tiny plant-like organisms that live in the sun-lit surface waters of the ocean. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| Provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment. The image was taken by the Expedition 16 crew, and is provided by the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. |
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Images of the city at night are perhaps the best illustration of the impact of humans on earth. Pictured here is Tokyo taken in February, 2008. The brightest parts mark the heart of the city.
According to NASA, the lights of Tokyo are a cooler blue-green colour than many other world cities. The colour results from the more widespread use of mercury vapour lighting as opposed to sodium vapour lighting, which produces an orange-yellow hue.
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Natural phenomena captured from space
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| Provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment. The image was taken by the Expedition 17 crew, and is provided by the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. |
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| The setting sun reflects off the Amazon River and the numerous lakes in its floodplain, August, 2008. The Amazon bends through the centre of the image while the Uatuma River, a tributary, comes into the Amazon from the top centre of the photo. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. |
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| The eruption of one of the Kamchatka volcanoes, Klyuchevskaya, in Russia, on December 8, 2008. A gap in the clouds above the snow-covered mountain reveals a white plume which NASA believes is either steam or a mixture of steam and ash.Although not a threat to human settlement, the ash from the volcanoes in this area needs to be monitored because of the potential hazard it poses to aircraft. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| Provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. This image was taken by the Expedition 18 crew. |
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The eastern half of Bolivia is covered with tropical rainforest but widespread clearing has taken place to make room for agriculture. This stretch of forest shows lighter patches of extensive clearing along the Rio Parapeti in Bolivia. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Caption by Michon Scott. |
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| China’s Yellow River, or Huang He, is the world’s muddiest. Stretching some 5,475 kilometres (3,395 miles) from eastern Tibet to Bo Hai, the river travels through soft plateaus of silt, picking up a massive sediment load on its journey. In this image you can see the build-up of the beige coloured sediment around the coastline. NASA says this delta-building process has added several hundred square km of land to China’s coast. |
Natural phenomena captured from space
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| NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service. Caption by Holli Riebeek. |
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| This image of vegetation cover shows part of the reason for the recent poor harvest in Kenya. Areas in which plants were growing less vigorously than average are brown, while areas in which plants were growing well are green. |
** By Tom Levitt **
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