Earth
Male Atoll and Maldive Islands As Seen From Orbit
Male Atoll and Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station. This detailed photograph features one of the numerous atolls in the Maldive Island chain. The Maldives are an island nation, comprised of twenty-six atolls that stretch in a north-to-south chain for almost 900 kilometers southwest of the Indian subcontinent. The silvery, almost pink sheen on the normally blue water of the equatorial Indian Ocean is the result of sunglint. Sunglint occurs when sunlight is reflected off of a water surface directly back towards the observer -- in this case a crew member on the space station.
Salt-Seeking Satellite Shaken By Quake, But Not Stirred
NASA's Aquarius instrument, and the Argentinian spacecraft that will carry it into space, the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D), successfully rode out one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history Feb. 27 with no problems. The instrument and spacecraft are at the satellite systems contractor's satellite integration facility in Bariloche, Argentina.
Post-Earthquake Damage in Chile As Seen From Orbit
NASA: Haze lingered over the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake on February 27, 2010. In an image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite at 14:25 UTC, black smoke hung over the northern part of the city, while light-colored haze (perhaps pollution and/or dust) covered the southern part of the city and filled a canyon that cuts eastward into the mountains. The lower image, acquired on February 23, shows the city and surroundings under clear-sky conditions. More images
Iran's Neyriz Lakes As Seen From Orbit
ESA: Lakes Bakhtegan and Tashk (together known as the Neyriz Lakes) in the Fars Province in southern Iran are featured in this image acquired by ALOS - Japan's four-tonne Earth observation satellite.
Lake Bakhtegan (centre) and Lake Tashk (top), situated in the Neyriz Basin, are salty lakes in the southeastern Zagros Mountains with fluctuating water levels according to rain and snowfall in the mountains.
New Space-Weather Science Tool
When NASA's satellite operators need accurate, real-time space-weather information, they turn to the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) of the Space Weather Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The CCMC's newest and most advanced space-weather science tool is the Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) system.
First Images from ESA's Water Mission
In less than four months since launch, the first calibrated images are being delivered by ESA's SMOS mission. These images of 'brightness temperature' translate into clear information on global variations of soil moisture and ocean salinity to advance our understanding of the water cycle.
Photo: Cyclone Gelane Reaches Category Four Strength
NASA satellites monitoring and studying Cyclone Gelane over the last several days have watched the storm become more powerful and more compact. Gelane is now a powerful category four cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Some regional warnings have been posted for this weekend as the storm approaches.