- Pictures taken from a range of Nasa satellites published as e-book and iPad app by the space agency
- Satellites measure beyond the spectrum of human vision, so they show more than is visible to the naked eye
By Damien Gayle
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With the satellite images of the Earth visible online with just a few clicks of the mouse, it can be hard to believe that before the launch of the first Earth-observing satellite in 1960 we never had such a vantage point.
Since then these satellites have provided a range of information that has helped us understand the beauty, dangers and risks to our global habitat better than we ever have.
Now Nasa has released a new e-book celebrating the aesthetic beauty of the patterns, shapes, colours, and textures of the land, oceans, ice, and atmosphere as seen from space.
Himalayas, Central Asia: The soaring, snow-capped peaks and ridges of the eastern Himalaya Mountains create an irregular patchwork between major rivers in Tibet and south-western China. Covered by snow and glaciers, the mountains here rise to altitudes of more than 5,000 meters. Vegetation at lower elevations is colored red in this Terra image from 2001. The Himalayas are made up of three parallel mountain ranges that together extend more than 2,900km. Uplift of the Himalayas continues today, at a rate of several millimeters per year, in response to the continuing collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates that began about 70million years ago
Akpatok Island, Canada: Akpatok Island rises sharply out of the frigid water of Ungava Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Composed primarily of limestone, the island is a flat, treeless plateau 23 kilometers wide, 45 kilometers long, and about 150 to 250 meters high. This 2001 Landsat 7 image shows Akpatok Island completely covered in snow and ice. Small, dark patches of open water appear between pieces of pale blue-green sea ice, and a few scattered clouds are shown in red. The surrounding sea and ice are home to polar bears, walruses, and whales. A traditional hunting ground for native Inuit people, Akpatok is almost inaccessible except by air. The island is an important sanctuary for seabirds that make their nests in the steep cliffs that circle the island
Aleutian Clouds, Bering Sea: Clouds hover over the waters off the western Aleutian Islands, where fog, heavy rains, and high winds are common. While the clouds in this 2000 Landsat 7 image are structured differently, all the clouds shown are low, marine stratocumulus clouds, which often produce drizzle. The color variations are probably due to differences in the temperature and in the size of the water droplets that make up the clouds. The Aleutian Islands are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The archipelago curves out 1,800km from south-western Alaska towards Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula
Algerian Desert, Algeria: Lying amid the Great Eastern Erg, the Great Western Erg, and the Atlas Mountains in Northern Africa, the Sahara Desert in central Algeria is dotted by fragmented mountains (in brown, lower right) where barren, windswept ridges overlook arid plains. In this Landsat 5 image from 2009, a system of dry streambeds criss-crosses the rocky landscape awaiting the rare, intense rains that often cause flash floods
Alluvial Fan, China: A vast alluvial fan unfolds across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklimakan Desert in China's Xinjiang Province. The fan is about 60km long and 55km wide at its broadest point. The left side is the active part of the fan. Water flowing down from the mountains in the many small streams appears blue in this 2002 image from the Terra satellite. Vegetation appears red and can be seen in the upper left corner of the image. Farmers take advantage of water at the foot of the fan to irrigate small fields. The 'lumpy' terrain at the top of the image is composed of sand dunes at the edge of the Taklimakan, one of the largest sandy deserts on Earth. Shifting sand dunes, some reaching as high as 200m, cover more than 80 per cent of the desert
Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco: A part of the Atlas Mountains in north-west Africa, the Anti-Atlas range runs for several hundred kilometers. The range extends from the Atlantic in south-west Morocco toward the north-east, where it meets the High Atlas range closer to the Mediterranean. The Anti-Atlas mountains formed as a result of continental collisions between 65 and 250 million years ago, which destroyed the Tethys Ocean. The limestone, sandstone, claystone, and gypsum layers that formed the ocean bed folded and crumpled to create the mountains. This Landsat 7 image from 2001 highlights some of the different rock types and illustrates the complex folding
Bringing together images collected by the Terra, Landsat 5, Landsat 7, EO-1, and Aqua satellites, the book's 75 images are as good a view of the planet as we are ever likely to have.
Most interestingly, as Nasa Earth scientist Lawrence Friedl points out in his foreword, the 'satellites can measure outside the visible range of light, so these images show more than what is visible to the naked eye'.
He adds: 'The beauty of Earth is clear, and the artistry ranges from the surreal to the sublime.
'Truly, by escaping Earth’s gravity we discovered its attraction.'
Anyuyskiy Volcano, Russia: Anyuyskiy Volcano lies north of the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. Now dormant, the volcano was once active enough to send a massive lahar (an avalanche of volcanic ash and rock mixed with water) 50km down the west side of the volcano summit. The dried, hardened remains of the lahar persist today as a streak of barren rock on a landscape that is otherwise richly vegetated. In this Landsat 7 image from 2001, vegetation appears green, bare rock and ice appear bright red, and water appears navy blue. The Anyuyskiy lahar extends from the volcano's north slope, turns sharply westward, and flows toward the westsouthwest. Lakes occur along the margins of the lahar, and some small lakes appear on the lahar's surface. Little vegetation has encroached on the ancient river of rock. Remote and largely inaccessible, the region is a rugged collection of towering volcanic peaks, steep valleys, and snow-fed rivers and streams
Belcher Islands, Canada: The Belcher Islands are spread across some 13,000sq/km in south-eastern Hudson Bay, but within that area, only about 3,000sq/km are actual islands and dry land. Landsat 7 captured this image of the archipelago in August 2000, when the north's brief summer was ending. The mostly brownish hues of the land areas in this image attest to a lack of vegetation, as cold temperatures prevent the growth of robust forests. The deep waters of the Hudson Bay appear almost black, with the exception of shallower areas close to land, which appear peacock blue. While they may appear delicate in this image, the Belcher Islands are composed of tough rock that has survived long stretches of geologic time. Geologists estimate that rocks in the 1,500-island archipelago range from 1.6 to 2.3billion years old
Bogda Mountains, China: The Turpan Depression, nestled at the foot of the Bogda Mountains in north-western China, is a strange mix of salt lakes and sand dunes. At the bottom of the basin is Aydingkol Lake, which appears blue in this Landsat 7 image from 1999. Once a permanent lake and now a salty swamp, the lake is 155m below sea level, making it the third lowest place on Earth's land surface after the Dead Sea and Africa's Lake Assal. A region of temperature extremes, the Turpan Depression extends over 50,000sq/km. The city of Turpan, located in the higher northern part of the depression, was an important trading centre on the ancient Silk Road
Bombetoka Bay, Madagascar: Bombetoka Bay is located on the north-western coast of Madagascar near the city of Mahajanga, where the Betsiboka River flows into the Mozambique Channel. Numerous islands and sandbars have formed in the estuary due to sediment carried by the Betsiboka River as well as the push and pull of tides. The past few decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the amount of sediment moved by the river and deposited in the estuary and offshore delta lobes, affecting agriculture, fisheries, and transportation in Mahajanga, one of Madagascar's busiest seaports. In this Terra image from 2000, dense vegetation is deep green and water is sapphire and tinged with pink where sediment is particularly thick
Brandberg Massif, Namibia: Over 120 million years ago, a single mass of granite punched through Earth's crust and intruded into the heart of the Namib Desert in what is now northern Namibia. Today, Brandberg Massif towers over the arid desert below. The locals call it Dâures - the burning mountain. The granite core of this now-dormant volcano is a remnant of a long period of tumultuous volcanic and geologic activity on Earth during which the southern supercontinent of Gondwana was splitting apart. The mountain influences the local climate, drawing more rain to its flanks than the desert below receives. The rain filters into the mountain's deep crevices and slowly seeps out through springs. Unique plant and animal communities thrive in its high-altitude environment, and prehistoric cave paintings decorate walls hidden in the steep cliffs gouged in the mountain. This 2002 Landsat 7 image also captured an older and more-eroded granite intrusion in the southwest. Along the Ugab River at the upper left, cracks line the brown face of an ancient plain of rock transformed into gneiss by heat, pressure, and time
Byrd Glacier, Antarctica: Just as rivers drain the continents, rivers also drain Antarctica - only in this frozen landscape, the rivers are ice. In some places, steep mountains channel the flowing ice sheets and compress them into fast-moving rivers of ice. The Byrd Glacier is one such place. Byrd Glacier flows through a deep valley in the Transantarctic Mountains, covering a distance of 180km and descending more than 1,300m as it flows from the polar plateau (left) to the Ross Ice Shelf (right). The fast-moving stream is one of the largest contributors to the shelf's total ice volume. In this Landsat 7 image from 2000, long, sweeping flow lines are crossed in places by much shorter lines, which are deep cracks in the ice called crevasses. The conspicuous red patches indicate areas of exposed rock. Byrd Glacier is located near the principal U.S. Antarctic Research Base at McMurdo Station, and it is named after the American Antarctic explorer Richard E. Byrd
Cape Farewell, New Zealand: Cape Farewell and Farewell Spit were named by British explorer Captain James Cook, who said 'farewell' to the land when he left New Zealand in 1770 - it was the last of the islands his crew saw as they departed for Australia on the ship's homeward voyage. Its Maori name, Onetahua, means 'heaped up sand'. Farewell Spit is located at the north-westernmost point of the South Island of New Zealand, and the spit stretches east from Cape Farewell for over 30km. The Tasman Sea is to the north and west. The spit's north side is built of sand dunes, and the southern side facing Golden Bay is largely covered with vegetation. The spit is administered as a sea bird and wildlife reserve with limited public access. The tide here can recede as much as 7km, exposing some 80sq/km of mudflats, a rich feeding ground for the many sea birds in the area. Terra acquired this image in 2001
Carbonate Sand Dunes, Atlantic Ocean: In this 2002 Terra image, calcium carbonate sand dunes are apparent in the shallow waters of Tarpum Bay, southwest of Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. The sand making up the dunes comes from the erosion of limestone coral reefs, shaped into dunes by ocean currents. Eleuthera Island is one of the larger 'out' islands of the Bahamas. The island itself consists mainly of low, rounded limestone hills, and the highest elevation of the island is about 60m. It has a rough, karst topography with caves, sinkholes, and cenotes. The island is surrounded by coral reefs and pink sand beaches
Carnegie Lake, Australia: Ephemeral Carnegie Lake, in Western Australia, fills with water only during periods of significant rainfall. In dry years, it is reduced to a muddy marsh. When full, it can cover an area of about 6sq/km. In this Landsat 7 image from 1999, flooded areas appear dark blue or black. Vegetation appears in shades of dark and light green, and sands, soils, and minerals appear in a variety of colours
Dardzha Peninsula, Turkmenistan: Jutting into the Caspian Sea, the Dardzha Peninsula in western Turkmenistan lies among the shallow, coastal terraces in the sea's south-east portion. Strong winds create huge sand dunes near the water, some of which are partly submerged. Farther inland, the dunes transition into the low sand plains of the Karakum Desert, which covers 70 per cent of the country. Landsat 7 captured this image in 2001
Dasht-e Kavir, Iran: The Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert, is the larger of Iran's two major deserts, which occupy most of the country's central plateau. Located in north-central Iran, the mostly uninhabited desert is about 800km long and 320km wide. Once situated beneath an ancient inland sea, the arid region is now covered with salt deposits and is known for its salt marshes (kavirs), which can act like quicksand. From wild sheep and leopards to gazelles and lizards, there is a range of wildlife in the mountainous areas and parts of the steppe and desert areas of the central plateau. This 2000 Landsat 7 image shows the intricately folded sediments and colourful formations that now blanket the surface of this barren landscape
Desolation Canyon, U.S.: Nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon, Desolation Canyon is one of the largest unprotected wilderness areas in the American West. In this Landsat 7 image from 2000, the Green River in Utah flows south across the Tavaputs Plateau (top) before entering the canyon (centre). Desolation Canyon has a rich history. Geologist and explorer John Wesley Powell named the canyon. During two river expeditions in 1869 and 1871, Powell's team mapped the Green River for the first time before heading down the Colorado River to the Grand Canyon. People of the Fremont culture inhabited the canyon and the plateau from about 200 to 1300 C.E. The present-day Ute Tribe owns the land along the east side of the river. Fremont and Ute pictographs and petroglyphs are abundant in Desolation and its numerous tributary canyons. The U.S. declared Desolation Canyon a National Historic Landmark in 1968
Great Salt Desert, Iran: A mix of salt marshes, mudflats, wadis, steppes, and desert plateaus colour the landscape of Iran's Great Salt Desert, Dasht-e Kavir. The region covers an area of more than 77,000sq/km. Dramatic daily temperature swings and violent storms are the norm, and extreme heat leaves the marshes and mud grounds with large crusts of salt. Some vegetation has adapted to the hot, arid climate and to the saline soil. Some wildlife live in parts of the steppe and desert areas of the central plateau, while others are common in the mountainous areas. Human settlement is largely restricted to some oases. Landsat 7 acquired this image in 2003
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