Friday, March 02, 2007
UN Atlas of Our Changing Environment
Section of the UN Atlas index map.
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The United Nations Environmental Programme has a website that presents satellite images from the Atlas of Our Changing Environment in an easy-to-access format. This atlas documents environmental change at numerous locations worldwide using satellite image pairs from the Landsat Geocover series. The website uses a Google Map (see screen capture at right) to provide easy browsing of the satellite image collection. Users click one of the map icons for more detailed information about that location. The screenshot below shows the Atlas case study for the Everglades. This case includes a written description of the changing Everglades environment along with a matched pair of satellite images compiled from data collected on different dates. In this case the images are from March 1973 (left) and January 2002 (right). Both of these images are clickable to more detailed views. The UN Atlas website is a place where you can see how changing climate and human activity have altered the environment. Visit the UN Atlas of Our Changing Environment website. 
Screenshot of the Everglades location from the UN Atlas.Labels: Books-Publications, Satellite-Images
Monday, February 19, 2007
Landsat Images for US States
Image by USGS
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The US Geological Survey has released a series of Orthorectified Landsat 7 images of all 50 states. These images are high resolution .tiff files that are suitable for plotting at poster size. File sizes range from 14 to 75 megabytes. A low resolution image for Arizona can be seen at right. The images are colorful state cut-outs on a black background with county boundaries, state flag, scale and latitude/longitude grid. Acquisition dates for the image data is 2000 (+/- one year) - all Landsat scenes were acquired between 1999 and 2001. The images are terrain corrected and rendered in a Universal Transverse Mercator projection. Information about how to obtain the image files can be obtained at the Earth Resources Observation and Science area of the USGS website. Labels: Geography, Satellite-Images
Monday, December 11, 2006
Great Volcano Image
Volcano Image by NASA
Click Image for More Detail
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One of the best satellite images of a volcano that I have ever seen is now on display at NASA's Earth Observatory website. Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador has been erupting or restless for the past several months. Lava flows and pyroclastics have blanketed much of the surrounding landscape, forced evacuations of many villages, dammed the Chambo River and caused numerous fatalities and injuries. Tungurahua is one of the most active volcanoes in Ecuador, but many people decide to live on its flanks because of the rich soils and mild temperatures. The price for this has been abandonment of property and the risk of injury or death. Visit the Earth Observatory website to see this great Volcano Image. Labels: Satellite-Images, Volcanoes
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Chevron Structures Evidence of Frequent Meteor Impacts
Screenshot of chevron structures located at the southern tip of Madagascar from Google Maps. Click the image for detail.
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Members of the Holocene Impact Working Group have identified numerous shoreline structures that they believe are evidence of recent marine impact events. These structures that they refer to as "chevrons" are believed to be piles of sediment that have been swept into chevron-shaped ridges by the tsunami-size waves produced from these impacts. The chevrons contain sediments, deep ocean microfossils and bits of what appear to be impact debris that are combined without regard to the normal superposition sequence. The working group has identified numerous chevron locations - so many that it causes them to question just how often the Earth is subject to massive impact events. In addition, the size of some chevrons are enormous. Some are hundreds of feet in height and covering hundreds of acres each - large enough that they would require a tsunami over 100 feet high to construct them. These chevron structures are reported at numerous locations in Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, India, Southern Africa, Madagascar, Hawaii, Portugal, Algeria, United Kingdom, Denmark, Brazil, Mexico, California, Washington, Oregon and other locations. 
Landsat image of the Fenambosy Chevrons in Madagascar by USGS. The open side of these chevrons point directly
at a crater at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. They suggest a gigantic meteor impact occurred about 4800 years ago.
Higher resolution image.You can read more about these chevron structures and see a world map with their locations in an article on the International Herald Tribune website. You can also visit a chevron location by clicking the google map image at the top of this article. Labels: Meteor-Meteorite, Oceanography, Satellite-Images
Monday, November 27, 2006
Near Real Time Satellite Images
USGS has released their EarthNow! image viewer which displays near real time satellite images received from Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites as they pass over the United States. When a satellite passes within transmission range of the USGS EROS center the image data is downloaded and transmitted to the web in near-real time. When the satellites are not within range a recent data stream is displayed. 
Screenshot from EarthNow! showing a view on the California coast near Los Angeles and Long Beach. Note the arc of the satellite orbit on the upper right inset. This inset tracks the progress of the satellite while you are viewing the data stream.EarthNow! is more of a novelty than a research tool, however it clearly shows what is possible. Visit the EarthNow! website for Near Real Time Satellite Images. Labels: Satellite-Images
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Mars Polar Area and Mineral Mapping Images
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is sending lots of fantastic images back to Earth. These are some of the highest quality images of the planet, both in terms of scenic views and in processed images that take advantage of the spectral data. The image below is of the Northern Mars polar area near the middle of the planet's summer. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is focusing on this area now because the continued southern movement of the sun will reduce polar illumination. The next opportunity to get well illuminated images of northern areas will not be until 2008. 
Image by NASAThe image set below consists of a true color and false color infrared views. However, more interesting are the images showing iron-rich clays and aluminum-rich clays. These images were prepared by showing the brightness of selected infrared wavelengths that are characteristic of specific minerals. The resulting image is a "map" of the distribution of those minerals. 
Image by NASAView more Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter images at the MRO Website. Labels: Astronomy-Planets, Satellite-Images
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
South Africa and Lesotho Snow
It is a hot summer in the northern hemisphere and easy to forget that the southern hemisphere is in the midst of winter. Unusually cold temperatures in South Africa and Lesotho produced snow cover in the higher elevations. 
Images Adapted from NASA's MODIS Collection
 The image on the left is a MODIS True Color image showing the August snow cover. The image on the right is a MODIS Surface Temperature Image. The temperature scale can be used to determine the significant temperature range caused mainly by elevation in this area. View these images at higher resolution at the Earth Observatory website. Labels: Geography, Satellite-Images
Sunday, March 26, 2006
New Idaho and Montana Aerial Images
Dr. William Bowen has published two new atlases containing panoramic aerial images of Idaho and Montana. These publications, "Idaho Atlas of Panoramic Aerial Images" and "Western Montana Atlas of Panoramic Aerial Images" contain nearly 2000 new aerial images covering more than 150,000 square miles (388,500 square kilometers). Shown below is a reduced size aerial image of the Kootenai River Valley, Boundary County, Idaho from the Idaho Atlas. These images give the sense of an oblique view of the landscape. The image below is 550 pixels wide but the atlas images are over 1000 pixels wide giving much greater detail. 
Sample image from the Idaho Atlas - used with permissionAccess to several of Dr. Bowen's image atlases can be obtained at the California State University, Northridge, Electronic Map Library. Labels: Satellite-Images
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Landsat Images of Europe and Asia by Country
New at Geology.com are Landsat images of 24 European and 26 Asian countries. These Landsat images average about 500 kilobytes each and were produced by Angela King using data from NASA's Geocover Dataset, obtained from Earth Satellite Corporation under the Earth Science Enterprise Scientific Data Purchase Program. 
Image by Geology.com using data from NASALabels: Satellite-Images
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Free Landsat Images from USGS
The US Geological Survey (USGS) now offers, at no cost, selected Landsat 4, 5 and 7 satellite data. Orthorectified Landsat data are available for free download from the Global Visualization Viewer (GloVis) at http://glovis.usgs.gov. The Landsat Orthorectified data collection is a global set of high-quality, relatively cloud-free Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. Selected and generated through NASA's Commercial Remote Sensing Program, the datasets provide two full sets of global coverage over an approximate 10-year interval (circa 1990 and circa 2000) and total nearly 16,000 scenes. Other data sets will be added as they become available, including the Landsat Orthorectified Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data set (circa 1975). The Landsat Program is the longest running program providing vital images of the Earth’s surface from space. The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972 and since then, Landsat satellites have been providing a constant stream of moderate-resolution images. In 1999, the Landsat Program took a giant leap forward technologically with the launch of Landsat 7. The instruments on the Landsat satellites have acquired millions of images of the surface of the planet, providing a unique resource for scientists who study agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping and global change research. 
Image by USGSLabels: Satellite-Images
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Greenland Map and Satellite Image Collection
USGS Professional Paper 1386-C is part of the "Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World". It contains numerous maps of Greenland to orient you to the geography, ice thickness, ice flow directions, seasonal ice changes and much more. After you appreciate these things the many satellite images of Greenland will be much more meaningful. 
USGSIce Flow Direction Map of Greenland by USGS
Satellite Image of Greenland by USGSThe Greenland publication and others in this series can be downloaded at the USGS Glacier Studies Project website. Labels: Maps, Satellite-Images
Friday, October 28, 2005
Earth Science Maps at Google Maps Mania
Mike Pegg, webmaster of Google Maps Mania has featured several Google maps related to Earth Science. Included in his "Weather and Earth" category are Google maps on the topics of hurricanes, asteroid occultations, earthquakes, weather, river conditions, emergency incidents, global warming and other interesting topics. Three maps from geology.com have been featured there; they are our maps on New Orleans Flooding, Meteor Impact Craters and Highest Points in the 50 States. 
Image by GoogleVisit Google Maps Mania to check out the interesting maps. Labels: Maps, Satellite-Images
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Sept 3 Biloxi & New Orleans Images
We are now providing access to a gallery of DigitalGlobe satellite images for Biloxi and New Orleans with dates of August 31 and September 3. View these images from our Hurricane Katrina Satellite Images Page. Labels: Satellite-Images
Sunday, September 04, 2005
New Orleans - Before & After Satellite Images
View before and after satellite images of New Orleans on our New Orleans Satellite Image page. When you arrive on that page, the red button will take you to post-Katrina images. To best appreciate the impact, toggle back and forth from "before" to "after" images. 
Images provided by Google and DigitalGlobe
Post-Katrina Satellite ImagesLabels: Hurricane-Katrina, Satellite-Images
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Mobile, Alabama Satellite Image
We have posted a detailed satellite image of Mobile, Alabama showing the entire city, Mobile Bay and surrounding areas. This image was created prior to Hurricane Katrina flooding. The image below is a lower resolution sample. 
Image by geology.com using NASA Landsat 2000 GeoCover data.See our full size Mobile Satellite Image. Labels: Satellite-Images
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
New Orleans Satellite Image
We have posted a detailed satellite image of New Orleans showing the entire city, Lake Pontchartrain, Mississippi River and surrounding areas. This image was created prior to Hurricane Katrina flooding. The image below is a lower resolution sample. 
Image by geology.com using NASA Landsat 2000 GeoCover data.See our full size New Orleans Satellite Image and Interactive Satellite ImageLabels: Satellite-Images
Monday, August 29, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Satellite Images
Earth Observatory has posted numerous satellite images and graphics that illustrate the development of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the entire Gulf Coast area. 
Image by NASAVisit the Earth Observatory website for more Hurricane Katrina Satellite Images. Labels: Hurricane-Katrina, Satellite-Images
Monday, August 01, 2005
Middle East Dust Storms
Earth Observatory has posted numerous images recently that clearly demonstrate the transport abilities of the wind. The satellite image below shows a heavy plume of yellow dust from Libya that has been swept out over the Mediterranean Sea. The plume has already reached Sicily and will possibly move over Italy and beyond. Certainly many tons of dust are being transported in this image. Additional dust storm images from Iraq, Kazakhstan, Namibia and the Red Sea area can be seen at the Earth Observatory website. 
Image by NASAView the Dust Storm Images at Earth Observatory. Labels: Satellite-Images
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Satellite Images of Meteor Impact Sites
Explore some of the most visible meteor impact sites through maps and satellite images. Our meteor impact page allows you to learn about and view several from across the earth using Google Maps. 
Image by Geology.com and Google MapsView our interactive Meteor Impact Sites. Labels: Meteor-Meteorite, Satellite-Images
Friday, July 22, 2005
United States Satellite Images with Roads
Google is now supplying satellite images with road overlays. These are especially good for United States locations.  Check them out at our United States Satellite Images page - Just Press the "HYBRID" button! Labels: Satellite-Images
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Atlas of Global Environmental Change
The United Nations Environment Programme has released "One Planet Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment". This atlas documents, through the use of 80 spectacular satellite image pairs, 30 case studies and numerous maps, how our planet is changing, mainly in result to the pressures of humans on the environment. A pdf copy and other information can be viewed on the web at the United Nations Environmental Programme Website.  Labels: Global-Warming, Satellite-Images
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