21 Sep 2005 --- Rita, now a Category 5 hurricane, was captured by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite in this image from September 21, 2005. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
30 Dec 2001, Iran --- MODIS image illustrating the plate tectonics of the Persian Gulf where the younger Arabian plate (lower left) is running up on the Eurasian plate (upper right). The Persian Gulf (top) and the Gulf of Oman (bottom) were once the site of a rift, where the two plates pulled apart from each other, and the Indian Ocean filled in the widening gap between the plates. The process then reversed, and about 20 million years ago, the gulf began to close up. The collision of the two continental plates gives Iran its mountainous terrain. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
12 Nov 2007, Antarctica --- MODIS image from the Terra satellite of ice along the Antarctic coast including pack ice and floating sheet ice from the Shirase Glacier near the center of the image. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
02 Oct 2008, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada --- Pictured in this image captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite on October 2, 2008, is Baffin Island. Baffin Island is located north of the Hudson Strait, which separates it from the Canadian Province of Quebec. To the east is Greenland, beyond the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay. It is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago - and the 5th largest island in the world. Much of the island is covered in permanent ice - Penny and Barnes ice caps cover nearly 6000 square kilometers each. Both are in a state of retreat, meaning they are growing smaller. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
16 Oct 2008 --- The cloud patterns seen in this image, captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on October 16, 2008, are called "ship-wave-shaped clouds". They are called this because they resemble ship waves (or "Kelvin ship waves"), which are the V-shaped wakes left by moving objects, such as ships or even ducks. In this case, the cloud patterns were caused by the Prince Edward Islands in the South Indian Ocean (not to be confused with the Prince Edward Island in Canada). As the wind flows past the islands, it is swept around and over it leaving a wake similar to that of a ship-- hence the name "ship-wave-shaped" clouds. Wind behaves like a fluid; when it encounters an obstacle, it must move around it, leaving behind a wake (like Von Karmann vortices), or a visible wave pattern. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
19 Jan 2009 --- False color image using visible and infrared light of the Chaiten Volcano and surrounding area captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. Vegetation is red while bare (possibly ash-covered) ground is brown and water is deep blue. The plume from the volcano appears off-white and is thick enough to completely hide the land surface below. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
Taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. --- Image by © NASA-GSFC - digital version copy/Science Faction/Corbis
Sea ice is pulling back from the east coast of Greenland, and the numerous fjords that cut into the coastline are showing blue water through the ice that chokes them. Later in the summer, the ice will be gone for a brief time before the return of winter. The climate of the region is arctic to subarctic, with cool summers and cold winters. Taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. --- Image by © NASA-GSFC - digital version copy/Science Faction/Corbis
Washington State and the Puget Sound as seen from the International Space Station on a cloudless day. The snow-capped Cascades run from top to bottom; the large white blob of Mount Rainier is below a checkerboard pattern of clear cuts. The upper Columbia river runs through dryer eastern Washington on the right. Seattle is dead center; to the left is the Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula. Vancouver Island, Victoria, and the city of Vancouver are in the upper left. --- Image by © NASA - digital version copyright/Science Faction/Corbis
Five hours after its release by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-46, the European Eureka Satellite soars over Cape Canaveral at a height of 266 miles. Eureka was Europe's first reusable satellite. --- Image by © NASA - digital version copyright/Science Faction/Corbis
25 Jul 2006, Greenland --- Along the northeastern coast of Greenland, glaciers and ocean currents sometimes produce an eye-catching display of shapes and colors. On July 25, 2006, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA's Terra satellite caught such a display. Greenland's coast is riddled with fjords- glacier-carved canyons flooded by seawater. In several of the fjords, the water appears pale turquoise, in contrast to the dark blue of the ocean water. This lighter shade results from fine sediment. The sediment particles are small enough to remain suspended in water, lightening its color. East of the network of fjords, pale blue sea ice swirls along Greenland's coast in a paisley pattern. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
15 Sep 2007, Northwest Territories, Canada --- Northwest Passage between Canada and Greenland captured by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on September 15, 2007. The Northwest Passage is a sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which threads through the Arctic Ocean and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, along the northern coast of North America. There has been speculation that due to climate change, the passage may become clear enough of ice to permit safe commercial shipping for at least part of the year. According to the European Space Agency, on August 21, 2007 the Northwest Passage became open to ships without the need of an icebreaker. According to Nalan Koc of the Norwegian Polar Institute, this is the first time it has been clear since they began keeping records in 1972. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
10 Oct 2001, Louisiana, USA --- Mississippi Delta Acquired by the Landsat 7 Satellite --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
26 Aug 2001, Saudi Arabia --- Image of the Empty Quarter or Rub' al-Khali, on the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, captured by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite. The area shown resides in southeastern Saudi Arabia, midway between the United Arab Emirates to the north and Oman in the south. Parallel rows of salmon-pink and white alternate to create a rippling pattern. White salt flats, known as sebkhas or sabkhas, separate the dunes. --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
29 Apr 2002 --- Pacific Ocean "ship tracks" produced by sulfate aerosols released by large ships. Terra, April 29, 2002 --- Image by © Jacques Descloitres, MODIS/NASA/Michael Benson/Kinetikon Pictures/Corbis
04 Mar 2009 --- They may look like airplane contrails, but the streaky clouds shown in this photo-like image formed around the exhaust left in the wake of ships traveling Northern Pacific Ocean, just south of Alaska. All clouds form when water molecules coalesce onto tiny particles in the atmosphere. The particles can be natural things like dust or sea salt, but they can also be aerosols emitted by human activity. With only the water's surface to influence it, air over the ocean tends to be uniform, often resulting in flat sheets of clouds that cover a wide area. When ships introduce new particles into the air by pumping out a stream of exhaust, water molecules readily cling to the particles, creating long clouds called ship tracks that trail behind a ship. Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
29 Apr 2009 --- It took the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite a full five minutes to fly over this expansive cloud pattern on April 29, 2009. The sprawling "S"-shaped swirl is actually two cyclones that seem to be feeding on each other. Polar cyclones often form as a result of low-pressure systems over the ocean, and usually bring winds and heavy snow. Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC --- Image by © NASA/Corbis
The teal blue area along the Louisiana coastline illustrates a region known as the Dead Zone, an expanse of oxygen-depleted (hypoxic) waters resulting from the delivery of excessive amounts of nitrogen pollution from the Mississippi River. Human activity is largely responsible for the seasonal hypoxia, which now threatens not only the marine ecosystems, but also the livelihoods of those people who rely upon it. --- Image by © NASA-GSFC - digital version copy/Science Faction/Corbis
Sea ice clogs the Bering Strait beside a snow-covered Alaska. Phytoplankton bloom green south of the ice. On land, the twisted braid of the Yukon River flows from the upper right to the outline of branches of the Yukon Delta near the center. The image was made by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA's Aqua satellite. Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, GSFC, NASA. --- Image by © NASA - digital version copyright/Science Faction/Corbis
Steam and smoke pours from the crater of the East African volcano Nyiragongo. The volcano is in the extreme eastern edge of the Democratic Republic of Congo near the border with Rwanda in the African Rift Valley. This orbital view was taken by the Ikonos satellite. --- Image by © NASA - digital version copyright/Science Faction/Corbis