Browse All : Images from 2007 and March 2007

STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images

title	STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images
description	The two STEREO spacecraft were launched together in Oct. 2006 from Cape Canaveral. In the following months they were placed in two separate orbits about the Sun - one (the Ahead spacecraft) moving ahead of Earth's orbit, the other (Behind) moving behind Earth's orbit. Both spacecraft are separating from each other and Earth. The spacecraft now have four degrees of separation, enough to provide true 3D images of the Sun and solar storms for the very first time. The images shown are produced by the STEREO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescopes (EUVI). These show the Sun's super-hot atmosphere in ultraviolet wavelengths of light invisible to the human eyes and unobtainable from the Earth's surface. This hot, ionized material is shaped by the sun's magnetic fields so that observing the Sun's atmosphere in ultraviolet light allows us to study its magnetic field. The Sun's atmosphere, the corona, is shaped by the Sun's complex and dynamic magnetic field. All the structures you see in these 3D movies are the result of that field. The magnetic field is also the source of solar activity. Complex magnetic fields rearrange and reconnect to form simpler magnetic structures and in the process release energy in the forms of flares and coronal mass ejections. With STEREO we want to get 3D information about what is occurring on the Sun, which is 150 million km (93 million miles) away. Thus we need "eyes" which are much farther apart. At the time these images were taken in late March 2007 the two STEREO spacecraft were about 10 million km apart. This is far enough to give each spacecraft a distinct point of view of the structures in the Sun's lower atmosphere and makes 3D images of the Sun possible for the first time.

STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images

title	STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images
description	The two STEREO spacecraft were launched together in Oct. 2006 from Cape Canaveral. In the following months they were placed in two separate orbits about the Sun - one (the Ahead spacecraft) moving ahead of Earth's orbit, the other (Behind) moving behind Earth's orbit. Both spacecraft are separating from each other and Earth. The spacecraft now have four degrees of separation, enough to provide true 3D images of the Sun and solar storms for the very first time. The images shown are produced by the STEREO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescopes (EUVI). These show the Sun's super-hot atmosphere in ultraviolet wavelengths of light invisible to the human eyes and unobtainable from the Earth's surface. This hot, ionized material is shaped by the sun's magnetic fields so that observing the Sun's atmosphere in ultraviolet light allows us to study its magnetic field. The Sun's atmosphere, the corona, is shaped by the Sun's complex and dynamic magnetic field. All the structures you see in these 3D movies are the result of that field. The magnetic field is also the source of solar activity. Complex magnetic fields rearrange and reconnect to form simpler magnetic structures and in the process release energy in the forms of flares and coronal mass ejections. With STEREO we want to get 3D information about what is occurring on the Sun, which is 150 million km (93 million miles) away. Thus we need "eyes" which are much farther apart. At the time these images were taken in late March 2007 the two STEREO spacecraft were about 10 million km apart. This is far enough to give each spacecraft a distinct point of view of the structures in the Sun's lower atmosphere and makes 3D images of the Sun possible for the first time.

STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images

title	STEREO Ultraviolet 3D Images
description	The two STEREO spacecraft were launched together in Oct. 2006 from Cape Canaveral. In the following months they were placed in two separate orbits about the Sun - one (the Ahead spacecraft) moving ahead of Earth's orbit, the other (Behind) moving behind Earth's orbit. Both spacecraft are separating from each other and Earth. The spacecraft now have four degrees of separation, enough to provide true 3D images of the Sun and solar storms for the very first time. The images shown are produced by the STEREO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescopes (EUVI). These show the Sun's super-hot atmosphere in ultraviolet wavelengths of light invisible to the human eyes and unobtainable from the Earth's surface. This hot, ionized material is shaped by the sun's magnetic fields so that observing the Sun's atmosphere in ultraviolet light allows us to study its magnetic field. The Sun's atmosphere, the corona, is shaped by the Sun's complex and dynamic magnetic field. All the structures you see in these 3D movies are the result of that field. The magnetic field is also the source of solar activity. Complex magnetic fields rearrange and reconnect to form simpler magnetic structures and in the process release energy in the forms of flares and coronal mass ejections. With STEREO we want to get 3D information about what is occurring on the Sun, which is 150 million km (93 million miles) away. Thus we need "eyes" which are much farther apart. At the time these images were taken in late March 2007 the two STEREO spacecraft were about 10 million km apart. This is far enough to give each spacecraft a distinct point of view of the structures in the Sun's lower atmosphere and makes 3D images of the Sun possible for the first time.

Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption

Internal Heat Drives Jupiter …

Title	Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption
General Information	What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 shows that Jupiter's internal heat plays a significant role in generating atmospheric disturbances. Understanding this outbreak could be the key to unlock the mysteries buried in the deep Jovian atmosphere. An international team coordinated by Agustin Sánchez-Lavega from the Universidad del País Vasco in Spain presents its findings about this event in the January 24 issue of the journal Nature. The team monitored the new eruption of cloud activity and its evolution with an unprecedented resolution using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain). A network of smaller telescopes around the world also supported these observations.

Internal Heat Drives Jupiter …

Title	Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption
General Information	What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 shows that Jupiter's internal heat plays a significant role in generating atmospheric disturbances. Understanding this outbreak could be the key to unlock the mysteries buried in the deep Jovian atmosphere. An international team coordinated by Agustin Sánchez-Lavega from the Universidad del País Vasco in Spain presents its findings about this event in the January 24 issue of the journal Nature. The team monitored the new eruption of cloud activity and its evolution with an unprecedented resolution using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain). A network of smaller telescopes around the world also supported these observations.

Internal Heat Drives Jupiter …

Title	Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption
General Information	What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 shows that Jupiter's internal heat plays a significant role in generating atmospheric disturbances. Understanding this outbreak could be the key to unlock the mysteries buried in the deep Jovian atmosphere. An international team coordinated by Agustin Sánchez-Lavega from the Universidad del País Vasco in Spain presents its findings about this event in the January 24 issue of the journal Nature. The team monitored the new eruption of cloud activity and its evolution with an unprecedented resolution using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain). A network of smaller telescopes around the world also supported these observations.

Internal Heat Drives Jupiter …

Title	Internal Heat Drives Jupiter's Giant Storm Eruption
General Information	What is a News Nugget? News Nuggets are bulletins from the world of astronomy. Detailed analysis of two continent-sized storms that erupted in Jupiter's atmosphere in March 2007 shows that Jupiter's internal heat plays a significant role in generating atmospheric disturbances. Understanding this outbreak could be the key to unlock the mysteries buried in the deep Jovian atmosphere. An international team coordinated by Agustin Sánchez-Lavega from the Universidad del País Vasco in Spain presents its findings about this event in the January 24 issue of the journal Nature. The team monitored the new eruption of cloud activity and its evolution with an unprecedented resolution using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, and telescopes in the Canary Islands (Spain). A network of smaller telescopes around the world also supported these observations.

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

THEMIS and the March 2007 Su …

Title	THEMIS and the March 2007 Substorm
Abstract	NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission observed the dynamics of a rapidly developing substorm in March of 2007. This visualization combines the orbits of the THEMIS satellites with a magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the Earth's magnetosphere corresponding to this time.
Completed	2007-11-21

Kelly Latimer is a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Latimer joined NASA in March 2007 and will fly the T38, T-34, G-III, C-17 and the "Ikhana" Predator B. Latimer is Dryden's first female research test pilot. Prior to joining NASA, Latimer was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force. She has accumulated more than 5,000 hours of military and civilian flight experience in 30 aircraft. Latimer's first association with NASA was while attending graduate school at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Her studies included work with the Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. She flew an Air Force C-17 during a 2005 NASA study to reduce aircraft noise. A team of California Polytechnic State University students and Northrop Grumman personnel were stationed on Rogers Dry Lake located at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to record the noise footprint of the aircraft as it made various landing approaches to Edwards' runway. Latimer completed undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, in 1990. She remained at Reese as a T-38 instructor pilot until 1993. She was assigned as a C-141 aircraft commander at McCord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Wash., until 1996. Latimer graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards in Class 96B. She served as a C-17 and C-141 experimental test pilot at Edwards until 2000. She then became the chief of the Performance Branch and a T-38 instructor pilot at The Air Force Test Pilot School. She returned to McCord in 2002, where she was a C-17 aircraft commander and the operations officer for the 62nd Operations Support Squadron. In 2004, Latimer became the commander of Edwards' 418th Flight Test Squadron and director of the Global Reach Combined Test Force. Following that assignment, she deployed to Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi Air Force. Her last active duty tour was as an instructor at the Air Force Test Pilot School. She retired from active duty in 2007 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. She received her commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering. Latimer earned a Master of Science in astronautics from George Washington University.

Photo Description	Kelly Latimer is a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Latimer joined NASA in March 2007 and will fly the T38, T-34, G-III, C-17 and the "Ikhana" Predator B. Latimer is Dryden's first female research test pilot. Prior to joining NASA, Latimer was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force. She has accumulated more than 5,000 hours of military and civilian flight experience in 30 aircraft. Latimer's first association with NASA was while attending graduate school at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Her studies included work with the Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. She flew an Air Force C-17 during a 2005 NASA study to reduce aircraft noise. A team of California Polytechnic State University students and Northrop Grumman personnel were stationed on Rogers Dry Lake located at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to record the noise footprint of the aircraft as it made various landing approaches to Edwards' runway. Latimer completed undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, in 1990. She remained at Reese as a T-38 instructor pilot until 1993. She was assigned as a C-141 aircraft commander at McCord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Wash., until 1996. Latimer graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards in Class 96B. She served as a C-17 and C-141 experimental test pilot at Edwards until 2000. She then became the chief of the Performance Branch and a T-38 instructor pilot at The Air Force Test Pilot School. She returned to McCord in 2002, where she was a C-17 aircraft commander and the operations officer for the 62nd Operations Support Squadron. In 2004, Latimer became the commander of Edwards' 418th Flight Test Squadron and director of the Global Reach Combined Test Force. Following that assignment, she deployed to Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi Air Force. Her last active duty tour was as an instructor at the Air Force Test Pilot School. She retired from active duty in 2007 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. She received her commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering. Latimer earned a Master of Science in astronautics from George Washington University.
Photo Date	March 9, 2007

Preparations and Test Flight …

Ikhana UAS Gives NASA New Sc …

Floods in Northern Argentina

Title	Floods in Northern Argentina
Description	Already swollen from late summer rain, Argentina's Paraná River and its tributaries burst their banks under the onslaught of extreme rain during the last week of March 2007. When the clouds cleared on April 3, 2007, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of the floods in the Santa Fe and Entre Rios states, where the flood damage was worst. In the center of the image are the two state capitals, Santa Fe and Paraná. The cement-colored cities sit on opposite banks of the river, and both sustained significant damage in the floods. Dark bands of water encroach on the cities in the top image. The lower image, taken on January 13, 2007, before the unusually heavy late-summer rains began, shows the river and its tributaries under dry-season conditions. Both images were made from infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water, which is black or dark blue in this type of image. Clouds are light blue and white, plant-covered land is green, and bare ground is tan-pink. The variegated green and tan land on either side of the river is agricultural land. In contrasting the two images, it is clear that not only have the wetlands and rivers expanded in the April 3 image, but tiny flecks of black in between the rivers indicate that farmland is flooded as well. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCON-6ZX4CN?OpenDocument ]), the governor of Santa Fe called March's extreme rainfall "the most radical climatic phenomenon of the last 100 years." Up to 500 millimeters of rain fell over parts of Santa Fe in the span of a week, where the average annual rainfall is 900-1,000 millimeters. The rain left four million hectares (15,000 square miles) flooded, which affected more than 70,000 people, said OCHA. Several cities were flooded, including Santa Fe and Paraná, and as many as 20 were completely isolated. Damage in Paraná was estimated to be over 10 million dollars. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in Northern Argentina

Title	Floods in Northern Argentina
Description	Already swollen from late summer rain, Argentina's Paraná River and its tributaries burst their banks under the onslaught of extreme rain during the last week of March 2007. When the clouds cleared on April 3, 2007, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image of the floods in the Santa Fe and Entre Rios states, where the flood damage was worst. In the center of the image are the two state capitals, Santa Fe and Paraná. The cement-colored cities sit on opposite banks of the river, and both sustained significant damage in the floods. Dark bands of water encroach on the cities in the top image. The lower image, taken on January 13, 2007, before the unusually heavy late-summer rains began, shows the river and its tributaries under dry-season conditions. Both images were made from infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water, which is black or dark blue in this type of image. Clouds are light blue and white, plant-covered land is green, and bare ground is tan-pink. The variegated green and tan land on either side of the river is agricultural land. In contrasting the two images, it is clear that not only have the wetlands and rivers expanded in the April 3 image, but tiny flecks of black in between the rivers indicate that farmland is flooded as well. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCON-6ZX4CN?OpenDocument ]), the governor of Santa Fe called March's extreme rainfall "the most radical climatic phenomenon of the last 100 years." Up to 500 millimeters of rain fell over parts of Santa Fe in the span of a week, where the average annual rainfall is 900-1,000 millimeters. The rain left four million hectares (15,000 square miles) flooded, which affected more than 70,000 people, said OCHA. Several cities were flooded, including Santa Fe and Paraná, and as many as 20 were completely isolated. Damage in Paraná was estimated to be over 10 million dollars. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in Northern Argentina

Title	Floods in Northern Argentina
Description	Months of flooding washed even more mud into the wide Rio de la Plata estuary than usual, changing its normally tan waters to a deep chocolate brown. Floods swept across Argentina and Uruguay starting in January and ending in late March 2007, when nearly half the average annual rainfall came down in just a few days. The floods inundated farmland and isolated and damaged cities. Soy farmers may have lost more than two million metric tons of their crop in Santa Fe, the most affected province, reported Bloomberg. [ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ajKC2Su30zLs&refer=latin_america ] As the floods drained down the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, the water swept soil into the rivers. By the time the two rivers converged into the Rio de la Plata, the water was thick with sediment as shown in the top, photo-like image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the image on April 12, 2007. The lower image, also from Terra MODIS, was taken the previous year, when the sediment in the river was closer to normal levels. The high volume of water draining into the estuary has turned the normally calm, bland surface into multi-shaded streams of mixing water. The high flow is also pushing more sediment out into the hook-shaped Samborombón Bay on the south side of the estuary. Signs of flooding are also evident in the wetlands along the Paran&aacute River. Instead of being deep green as they were in April 2006, the wetlands are almost black under a layer of water. Tan streams of sediment flow from the main channel of the river over the soaked wetlands. Beyond the wetlands and the riverbanks are tiny tan and green squares of farmland. The silver semi-circle on the southern bank of the Rio de la Plata is Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and the constellation of cities that surround it. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, is the silver area along the northern shore of the estuary in the top image (under clouds in the 2006 image). NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.

Floods in Northern Argentina

Title	Floods in Northern Argentina
Description	Months of flooding washed even more mud into the wide Rio de la Plata estuary than usual, changing its normally tan waters to a deep chocolate brown. Floods swept across Argentina and Uruguay starting in January and ending in late March 2007, when nearly half the average annual rainfall came down in just a few days. The floods inundated farmland and isolated and damaged cities. Soy farmers may have lost more than two million metric tons of their crop in Santa Fe, the most affected province, reported Bloomberg. [ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ajKC2Su30zLs&refer=latin_america ] As the floods drained down the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, the water swept soil into the rivers. By the time the two rivers converged into the Rio de la Plata, the water was thick with sediment as shown in the top, photo-like image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the image on April 12, 2007. The lower image, also from Terra MODIS, was taken the previous year, when the sediment in the river was closer to normal levels. The high volume of water draining into the estuary has turned the normally calm, bland surface into multi-shaded streams of mixing water. The high flow is also pushing more sediment out into the hook-shaped Samborombón Bay on the south side of the estuary. Signs of flooding are also evident in the wetlands along the Paran&aacute River. Instead of being deep green as they were in April 2006, the wetlands are almost black under a layer of water. Tan streams of sediment flow from the main channel of the river over the soaked wetlands. Beyond the wetlands and the riverbanks are tiny tan and green squares of farmland. The silver semi-circle on the southern bank of the Rio de la Plata is Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and the constellation of cities that surround it. Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, is the silver area along the northern shore of the estuary in the top image (under clouds in the 2006 image). NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.

Chankillo Observatory, Peru

Title	Chankillo Observatory, Peru
Description	About 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Lima, Peru, lies an enigmatic, 2,300-year-old ruin named Chankillo. Archaeologists have nicknamed the ruin's central complex the "Norelco ruin" based on its resemblance to a modern electric shaver. The building's true purpose long eluded them. Its thick walls and hilltop location suggested it was a fort, but why, researchers wondered, would anybody build a fort with so many gates and without a water source? Then in March 2007, two researchers, Ivan Ghezzi and Clive Ruggles, offered an explanation for the complex: at least part of it was a solar observatory. GeoEye's IKONOS sensor captured this image of Chankillo on January 13, 2002, and this picture shows the features the archaeologists studied to infer the site's purpose. The central complex appears in the upper left with its concentric rings of fortified walls. Southeast of the central complex are the Thirteen Towers, which vaguely resemble a slightly curved spine. On either side of the towers are observing points (little is left of the eastern observation structure), and south of the eastern observing point is another building complex, apparently used in part for food storage. Although the dark shapes in the northeast seem like rock outcrops, the higher-resolution image reveals they are probably trees. The Thirteen Towers were the key to the scientists conclusion that the site was a solar observatory. These regularly spaced towers line up along a hill, separated by about 5 meters (16 feet). The towers are easily seen from Chankillo's central complex, but the views of these towers from the eastern and western observing points are especially illuminating. These viewpoints are situated so that, on the winter and summer solstices, the sunrises and sunsets line up with the towers at either end of the line. Other solar events, such as the rising and setting of the Sun at the mid-points between the solstices, were aligned with different towers. Why did the ancient inhabitants of this region cultivate such a thorough understanding of solar cycles? In addition to potential ceremonial purposes, the observatory may have had practical uses as well. In Peru's dry coastal reason, precipitation is seasonal, so a reliable solar calendar would help determine the optimal time to plant crops. Image copyright GeoEye [ http://www.geoeye.com/ ]/SIME.

Cyclone Indlala

Title	Cyclone Indlala
Description	On March 14, 2007, storm-weary Madagascar braced for its fourth land-falling tropical cyclone in as many months. Cyclone Indlala was hovering off the island's northeast coast when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this photo-like image at 1:40 p.m. local time (10:40 UTC). Just over a hundred kilometers offshore, the partially cloudy eye at the heart of the storm seems like a vast drain sucking in a disk of swirling clouds. According to reports from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued less than three hours after MODIS captured this image, Indlala had winds of 115 knots (132 miles per hour), with gusts up to 140 knots (161 mph). Wave heights were estimated to be 36 feet. At the time of the report, the storm was predicted to intensify through the subsequent 12-hour period, to turn slightly southwest, and to strike eastern Madagascar as a Category 4 storm with sustained winds up to 125 knots (144 mph), and gusts up to 150 knots (173 mph). According to Reuters AlertNet news service, Madagascar's emergency response resources were taxed to their limit in early March 2007 as a result of extensive flooding in the North, drought and food shortages in the South, and three previous hits from cyclones in the preceding few months: Bondo [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14052 ] in December 2006, Clovis [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14055 ] in January 2007, and Gamede [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14145 ] in February. You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Indlala KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/indlala_amo_2007073.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center.

Cyclone Indlala

Title	Cyclone Indlala
Description	Cyclone Indlala came ashore on the island of Madagascar on March 15, 2007, as a Category 3 storm, according to data provided by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The storm was the country's sixth hit of the 2006-2007 storm season. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite shows Indlala draped over the northern part of the island. Bands of swirling clouds spiral around the eye of the storm. According to Reuters AlertNet news service, Madagascar's emergency response resources were taxed to their limit in early March 2007 as a result of extensive flooding in the North, drought and food shortages in the South, and three previous hits from cyclones in the preceding few months: Bondo [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14052 ] in December 2006, Clovis [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14055 ] in January 2007, and Gamede [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14145 ] in February. The arrival of Indlala interrupted emergency relief efforts and worsened an already difficult situation. You can download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Indlala KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/indlala_tmo_2007074.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center.

Haze over China

Title	Haze over China
Description	Thick haze collected over the Beijing region in late March 2007. Earlier that month, the BBC News reported that an international team of scientists had documented how increasing pollution in China led to decreasing rainfall over the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] flying onboard the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured these images of the Beijing region on March 22, 2007. The top image is a "true-color" picture, similar to a digital photo. The bottom, "false-color," image uses a combination of visible and infrared light to more clearly show vegetation, water, and clouds. Even sparse vegetation appears bright green, while water appears deep blue (bright blue when tinged with sediment). Clouds dominated by water droplets appear white, while clouds made of ice crystals appear light blue. The false-color image highlights water bodies, perhaps aqua-culture ponds, that are all but invisible in the true-color image, especially along the shores of the Bo Hai. While vegetation and water show up more clearly in the false-color image, haze is much more transparent. Although dingy gray haze dominates the true-color picture, it is all but invisible in the false-color view. The haze "disappears" in the infrared-enhanced image because tiny haze particles do not reflect longer-wavelength infrared light very well, making this type of image useful for distinguishing haze from clouds. The bank of clouds in the upper right corner shows up clearly in both pictures. As China industrializes, factories, power plants, and automobiles all contribute to pollution in the region. In examining pollutants and rainfall, the team of scientists examined records covering more than 50 years, concluding that pollution decreased precipitation at Mount Hua near Xi'an in central China. They concluded that when conditions are so hazy that visibility is reduced to less than 8 kilometers (5 miles), hilly precipitation can drop by 30 to 50 percent. When moist air passes over mountains, it usually cools and forms raindrops, but heavy pollutant concentrations cause the clouds to hang on to their moisture. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China4 ] of this region.

Haze over China

Title	Haze over China
Description	Thick haze collected over the Beijing region in late March 2007. Earlier that month, the BBC News reported that an international team of scientists had documented how increasing pollution in China led to decreasing rainfall over the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] flying onboard the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured these images of the Beijing region on March 22, 2007. The top image is a "true-color" picture, similar to a digital photo. The bottom, "false-color," image uses a combination of visible and infrared light to more clearly show vegetation, water, and clouds. Even sparse vegetation appears bright green, while water appears deep blue (bright blue when tinged with sediment). Clouds dominated by water droplets appear white, while clouds made of ice crystals appear light blue. The false-color image highlights water bodies, perhaps aqua-culture ponds, that are all but invisible in the true-color image, especially along the shores of the Bo Hai. While vegetation and water show up more clearly in the false-color image, haze is much more transparent. Although dingy gray haze dominates the true-color picture, it is all but invisible in the false-color view. The haze "disappears" in the infrared-enhanced image because tiny haze particles do not reflect longer-wavelength infrared light very well, making this type of image useful for distinguishing haze from clouds. The bank of clouds in the upper right corner shows up clearly in both pictures. As China industrializes, factories, power plants, and automobiles all contribute to pollution in the region. In examining pollutants and rainfall, the team of scientists examined records covering more than 50 years, concluding that pollution decreased precipitation at Mount Hua near Xi'an in central China. They concluded that when conditions are so hazy that visibility is reduced to less than 8 kilometers (5 miles), hilly precipitation can drop by 30 to 50 percent. When moist air passes over mountains, it usually cools and forms raindrops, but heavy pollutant concentrations cause the clouds to hang on to their moisture. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China4 ] of this region.

Haze over China

Title	Haze over China
Description	Thick haze collected over the Beijing region in late March 2007. Earlier that month, the BBC News reported that an international team of scientists had documented how increasing pollution in China led to decreasing rainfall over the region. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] flying onboard the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured these images of the Beijing region on March 22, 2007. The top image is a "true-color" picture, similar to a digital photo. The bottom, "false-color," image uses a combination of visible and infrared light to more clearly show vegetation, water, and clouds. Even sparse vegetation appears bright green, while water appears deep blue (bright blue when tinged with sediment). Clouds dominated by water droplets appear white, while clouds made of ice crystals appear light blue. The false-color image highlights water bodies, perhaps aqua-culture ponds, that are all but invisible in the true-color image, especially along the shores of the Bo Hai. While vegetation and water show up more clearly in the false-color image, haze is much more transparent. Although dingy gray haze dominates the true-color picture, it is all but invisible in the false-color view. The haze "disappears" in the infrared-enhanced image because tiny haze particles do not reflect longer-wavelength infrared light very well, making this type of image useful for distinguishing haze from clouds. The bank of clouds in the upper right corner shows up clearly in both pictures. As China industrializes, factories, power plants, and automobiles all contribute to pollution in the region. In examining pollutants and rainfall, the team of scientists examined records covering more than 50 years, concluding that pollution decreased precipitation at Mount Hua near Xi'an in central China. They concluded that when conditions are so hazy that visibility is reduced to less than 8 kilometers (5 miles), hilly precipitation can drop by 30 to 50 percent. When moist air passes over mountains, it usually cools and forms raindrops, but heavy pollutant concentrations cause the clouds to hang on to their moisture. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. The Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China4 ] of this region.

Haze over China

Title	Haze over China
Description	Thick haze accumulated over China for most of March 2007. Besides pollutants visible to human eyes, the haze contained substantial amounts of carbon monoxide. This image shows carbon monoxide measurements from March 1-27, 2007, as recorded by the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. In this color-coded image, colors indicate the average number of carbon monoxide molecules in the lower atmosphere. Dark blue indicates none. Deep red indicates 400 carbon monoxide molecules per ten quadrillion total molecules in a one-square-centimeter column of atmosphere. This image shows some of the mildest concentrations over central Asia, and some of the heaviest concentrations over India, Southeast Asia, the South China Sea, and the Sea of Japan. Wind often blows haze eastward over the ocean. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas. Because the gas results from combustion, it is a good indicator of urban and industrial pollution as well as fires. The high carbon monoxide concentrations observed by MOPITT in March 2007 were likely due to multiple sources, including pollution across China's eastern coastal plain [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14179 ] and fires in Southeast Asia. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14193 ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Toronto MOPITT Teams. [ http://www.eos.ucar.edu/mopitt/ ]

Drought in China

Title	Drought in China
Description	As March drew to a close, so did China's unusually warm winter. Normally rainy months in China's south, February and March 2007 saw almost no rain. In some places, the warm weather allowed winter crops like winter wheat to thrive, growing more thickly than normal. In others, the warm weather and lack of rain withered plants. The drought hurt at least 13.5 million hectares of farmland throughout China, reported China Daily. [ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-04/04/content_842930.htm ] The impact of the dry, warm winter on vegetation in China's southeast is illustrated by this vegetation image. The image compares vegetation conditions as observed by the SPOT satellite during March 2007 to the average of conditions seen every March from 1999 to 2006. Green areas show where plants were growing larger and most densely than normal, while brown and red indicate areas where plants were not growing as well as they do on average. The image illustrates the extreme contrast between areas where the warm weather fostered plant growth and areas where plants could not grow because of a lack of water. In Sichuan, the brown patch in the upper left corner of the image, the water shortage was so extreme that officials has to deliver fresh drinking water to the hardest hit areas, said the BBC. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6490809.stm ] Parts of China's northwest similarly ran low on water. The full extent of the drought in the north is illustrated in the large image. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Drought in Southern Africa

Title	Drought in Southern Africa
Description	Hot, dry weather from January through March 2007 wilted crops in southern Africa. The severe drought produced near-record temperatures that, combined with a lack of rainfall, caused extensive crop damage, particularly in western crop areas, reported the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/wap_arch.cfm ] In South Africa, the anticipated yield from the corn crop dropped from ten million tons in December to six million tons in April because farmers couldn't plant in the dry conditions and many of the crops that were planted wilted in the dry heat. The last South African drought of this magnitude occurred in 1992. The impact of the drought on vegetation throughout southern Africa is illustrated in this image. The image shows vegetation conditions in March 2007 compared to conditions during the average March between 1999 and 2006 as measured by the SPOT satellite. Brown areas show where plants were less thick or where fewer plants grew than average. Green areas, by contrast, indicate that vegetation was thicker and more lush than average. The prevalence of brown indicates that plants were growing poorly throughout the region because of the drought. Green dominates in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique along the top edge of the image, where heavy rains triggered floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] during January and February. Some of the most severe flooding occurred along the Zambezi River, which is outlined in dark green in the upper-right corner of the image. Clearly, January and February's excess rain fed dense vegetation in March. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Drought in Southwestern Unit …

Title	Drought in Southwestern United States
Description	The southwestern United States pined for water in late March and early April 2007. This image is based on data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite from March 22 through April 6, 2007, and it shows the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, for the period. In this NDVI color scale, green indicates areas of healthier-than-usual vegetation, and only small patches of green appear in this image, near the California-Nevada border and in Utah. Larger areas of below-normal vegetation are more common, especially throughout California. Pale yellow indicates areas with generally average vegetation. Gray areas appear where no data were available, likely due to persistent clouds or snow cover. According to the April 10, 2007, update from the U.S. Drought Monitor, [ http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html ] most of the southwestern United Sates, including Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona, experienced moderate to extreme drought. The hardest hit areas were southeastern California and southwestern Arizona. Writing for the Drought Monitor, David Miskus of the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility reported that March 2007 had been unusually dry for the southwestern United States. While California's and Utah's reservoir storage was only slightly below normal, reservoir storage was well below normal for New Mexico and Arizona. In early April, an international research team published an online paper in Science noting that droughts could become more common for the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, as these areas were already showing signs of drying. Relying on the same computer models used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in early 2007, the researchers who published in Science concluded that global warming could make droughts more common, not just in the American Southwest, but also in semiarid regions of southern Europe, Mediterranean northern Africa, and the Middle East. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided by Inbal Reshef, Global Agricultural Monitoring Project [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/glam.cfm ].

Locust Swarms in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula

Locust Swarms in Africa and …

Title	Locust Swarms in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
Description	Alone, the desert locust is nothing to worry about. It is a solitary creature that stays out of sight munching on plants. But when enough locusts are packed into a small area, they form aggressive swarms that migrate from place to place, consuming all vegetation in their path. The transformation from solitary insect to plaguing swarm happens when conditions force the locusts into close confinement. Along the shores of the Red Sea, the locusts' winter breeding area, swarms develop when rain falls on the sandy soil to initiate the hatching of locust eggs. If conditions are rightplenty of water and vegetation for foodin the locust breeding areas, a large number of the insects hatch and form swarms. In March 2007, locust swarms were sighted in the coastal plains along the Red Sea coast in Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, said Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in its Desert Locust Bulletin. [ http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html ] The small swarms were breeding in the lush vegetation left by abundant winter rains. As the vegetation dries, the swarms are likely to move north and inland, warned the FAO. While locusts are not visible from space, the conditions that allow swarms to develop are easy to spot. This image, created from data collected by the SPOT satellite, shows vegetation conditions. Dark green areas indicate that vegetation was more thick and lush in March 2007 than the average March between 1999 and 2006. Brown areas show where vegetation was more sparse than average. Strips of dark green line the shores of the Red Sea in the same areas where locust swarms were spotted. The image also shows that plants are flourishing inland in Sudan, Eritrea, and Saudi Arabia, where the locusts could migrate. Because such satellite images map the conditions in which locust swarms develop, scientists use them as an early warning to identify areas that should be monitored for locust outbreaks. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center

Fires in Southeast Asia

Title	Fires in Southeast Asia
Description	Vehicles and power plants are not the only sources of air pollution and greenhouses gases: fires contribute, too. In the Northern Hemisphere spring, which is the end of dry season across much of Southeast Asia, thousands of fires burn each year as people clear cropland and pasture in anticipation of the upcoming wet (growing) season. Intentional fires also escape people's control and burn into adjacent forest. The smoke from these fires crosses the Pacific Ocean, affecting climate far away. This dramatic photo-like image of fires and smoke in Southeast Asia was captured on April 2, 2007, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. MODIS detected hundreds, possibly thousands of fires (marked in red), burning in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and China. Thick smoke hides nearly all of Laos, where the highest concentration of fires is located. In southern China and northern Vietnam, the smoke has sunk into the valleys that crisscross the mountainous terrain, only the highest ridgelines, which appear dark green, emerge from the blanket of smoke. The smoke sails above a bank of clouds at upper right as a dingy, yellowish haze. Fires have been burning in the region for more than month, as shown by the high carbon monoxide levels observed by NASA's MOPITT sensor during March 2007. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14191 ] In addition to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, fires produce tiny particles of incompletely burned, or charred, carbon. According to research published in mid-March 2007 in the Journal of Geophysical Research, significant amounts of this black carbon travel across the Pacific Ocean to North America at altitudes above 2 kilometers. In spring 2004, between 25-35 gigatons (roughly 55 to 77 million pounds) of black carbon crossed the Pacific and entered skies over western North America between March 26 and April 25, nearly 75 percent of it came from Asia. (Smoke and other pollution have no respect for borders, for example, scientists have also documented smoke pollution from fires in Alaska and Canada crossing the Atlantic [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/ContributionPollution/ ], and entering skies over Europe.) Black carbon influences the climate. Like any dark-colored material, it absorbs incoming sunlight, dimming and cooling the Earth's surface. But while the surface cools, the atmosphere where the black carbon is located heats up. Which effect is stronger? When scientists looked at the overall effect for an entire column of the atmosphere, black carbon's warming effects outweighed its cooling effects. They concluded that trans-Pacific transport of black carbon, such as the soot released from the fires shown in this image, may amplify greenhouse-gas warming over the western United States and the Pacific Ocean. The analysis was based on a variety of information, including weather models, observations collected from airplanes, and aerosol data from MODIS. The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China5 ] images of the region in additional resolutions and formats. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center

Flooding in Honduras

Title	Flooding in Honduras
Description	An unusual cold front brought heavy rains to the Atlantic coast of Honduras in early March 2007. By March 10, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image, the Aguan River and nearby waterways were swollen. The floods cut off 100,000 people by damaging roads and bridges, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] These images were made with infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Water is typically black in this type of image, but dirt in the water scatters light, giving the flooded rivers a blue color. In the March 10 image, the rivers dump plumes of sediment into the Atlantic Ocean, coloring the water bright blue. Scattered clouds are pale blue and white, while plant-covered land is green. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.

Flooding in the Zambezi Vall …

Title	Flooding in the Zambezi Valley
Description	The ribbon of blue flood water that surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image is not unusual. Every year, when the rainy season sets in over southern Angola and western Zambia, the river rises and spreads wide across its flood plain. The intense rains that fell from mid-December through March 2007 caused widespread flooding across southern Africa [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] from Angola to Mozambique. The floods caused dozens of deaths, displaced thousands, and caused extensive damage to both agriculture and infrastructure, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] Many of the deadly floods have occurred along various sections of the Zambezi and its tributaries. The floods shown here caused agricultural losses. In additional to being heavier than normal, the rains also came early, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on March 4, 2007. The lower image was taken on December 1, 2006, by the MODIS sensor flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, and is provided here to show the river during the dry season. The images were made with visible and infrared light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is dark blue, while the surrounding plant-covered land is green. Bare or lightly vegetated ground is tan, and clouds are pale blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.

Flooding in the Zambezi Vall …

Title	Flooding in the Zambezi Valley
Description	The ribbon of blue flood water that surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image is not unusual. Every year, when the rainy season sets in over southern Angola and western Zambia, the river rises and spreads wide across its flood plain. The intense rains that fell from mid-December through March 2007 caused widespread flooding across southern Africa [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] from Angola to Mozambique. The floods caused dozens of deaths, displaced thousands, and caused extensive damage to both agriculture and infrastructure, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] Many of the deadly floods have occurred along various sections of the Zambezi and its tributaries. The floods shown here caused agricultural losses. In additional to being heavier than normal, the rains also came early, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on March 4, 2007. The lower image was taken on December 1, 2006, by the MODIS sensor flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, and is provided here to show the river during the dry season. The images were made with visible and infrared light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is dark blue, while the surrounding plant-covered land is green. Bare or lightly vegetated ground is tan, and clouds are pale blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.

Floods in Afghanistan

Title	Floods in Afghanistan
Description	Late-winter rain and melting snow combined to trigger floods and landslides in the mountain valleys of Afghanistan's rugged southwestern interior in mid-March 2007. By March 20, more than 50 people had died and hundreds were displaced or stranded throughout the country, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6ZGHYW?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=afg ]). The floods had pushed the Helmand River over its banks by March 22, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. A little more than a week earlier, when the lower image was taken, the dark blue water flowing through the river was barely visible. But on March 22, the river had widened. The reservoir behind Kajaki Dam was also swollen, and its bright blue color was a sign that mud carried by run-off permeated the water. By contrast, the reservoir was dark blue and black, the color water typically takes in this type of image, the previous week. These images were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. The surrounding desert is tan and pink, and clouds are pale blue and white. Irrigated crop land around the rivers and plant-covered land in the mountains are bright green. Similar images and photo-like, true-color images of Afghanistan are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Afghanistan/2007081 ] on a daily basis. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Floods in Afghanistan

Title	Floods in Afghanistan
Description	Late-winter rain and melting snow combined to trigger floods and landslides in the mountain valleys of Afghanistan's rugged southwestern interior in mid-March 2007. By March 20, more than 50 people had died and hundreds were displaced or stranded throughout the country, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6ZGHYW?OpenDocument&rc=3&cc=afg ]). The floods had pushed the Helmand River over its banks by March 22, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. A little more than a week earlier, when the lower image was taken, the dark blue water flowing through the river was barely visible. But on March 22, the river had widened. The reservoir behind Kajaki Dam was also swollen, and its bright blue color was a sign that mud carried by run-off permeated the water. By contrast, the reservoir was dark blue and black, the color water typically takes in this type of image, the previous week. These images were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. The surrounding desert is tan and pink, and clouds are pale blue and white. Irrigated crop land around the rivers and plant-covered land in the mountains are bright green. Similar images and photo-like, true-color images of Afghanistan are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Afghanistan/2007081 ] on a daily basis. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.

Eclipsed Moon Rising Over En …

Title	Eclipsed Moon Rising Over England
Explanation	Last Thursday, part of our Moon turned dark. The cause, this time, was not a partial lunar phase [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051113.html ] -- the Moon was full -- but rather that part of the Moon went into Earth's shadow. The resulting partial lunar eclipse [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041103.html ] was visible from the eastern Atlantic Ocean [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/zh.html ] through Europe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051207.html ], Africa [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa ], and Asia [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia ] and into the western Pacific Ocean [ https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/zn.html ]. The darkest part of the lunar eclipse, when part of the Moon was completely shielded from sunlight [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060909.html ], lasted about 90 minutes. Pictured above, a partially eclipsed Moon is seen rising over an estate in Huddersfield [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huddersfield_%28UK_Parliament_constituency%29 ], England [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles_%28terminology%29 ]. The above image was taken far away from the house in the foreground, as only this would allow it to appear as angularly small as the half-degree Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031011.html ] far in the background. A setting twilight Sun lit the foreground. The next eclipse [ http://mreclipse.com/Special/LEnext.html ] of the Moon will occur in March 2007.

Craters on South Polar Layer …

PIA09670

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Craters on South Polar Layer …

PIA09670

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Craters on South Polar Layer …

PIA09670

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Kaiser Crater Dune Field

PIA09669

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Kaiser Crater Dune Field
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_003141_1330 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_003141_1330 ]) shows a sand dune field in Kaiser Crater, a 210 km (130 miles) wide impact basin in the Hellespontus region of Mars. Winds have trapped massive quantities of sand on the floors of broad craters in this region. The steepest slopes on each dune, the slip faces, point to the east indicating that the dominant wind direction in this part of the dune field is from west to east. Patches of seasonal frost can be seen in the low areas between the dunes. The subimage reveals smaller secondary dunes superimposed on the surface of the large dunes and even smaller ripples that appear between and perpendicular to the secondary dunes. Avalanching or mass movement of sand has left deep scars on the slip face of the large dune in the upper left portion of the subimage. This may indicate that the sand is not loose but is weakly cemented. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 3:43 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -46.6° Degrees longitude (East): 19.3° Range to target site: 263.9 km (164.9 miles) Original image scale range: 26.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 17.5° Phase angle: 74.6° Solar incidence angle: 58°, with the Sun about 32° above the horizon Solar longitude: 209.0°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Kaiser Crater Dune Field

PIA09669

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Kaiser Crater Dune Field
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_003141_1330 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_003141_1330 ]) shows a sand dune field in Kaiser Crater, a 210 km (130 miles) wide impact basin in the Hellespontus region of Mars. Winds have trapped massive quantities of sand on the floors of broad craters in this region. The steepest slopes on each dune, the slip faces, point to the east indicating that the dominant wind direction in this part of the dune field is from west to east. Patches of seasonal frost can be seen in the low areas between the dunes. The subimage reveals smaller secondary dunes superimposed on the surface of the large dunes and even smaller ripples that appear between and perpendicular to the secondary dunes. Avalanching or mass movement of sand has left deep scars on the slip face of the large dune in the upper left portion of the subimage. This may indicate that the sand is not loose but is weakly cemented. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 3:43 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -46.6° Degrees longitude (East): 19.3° Range to target site: 263.9 km (164.9 miles) Original image scale range: 26.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 17.5° Phase angle: 74.6° Solar incidence angle: 58°, with the Sun about 32° above the horizon Solar longitude: 209.0°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Kaiser Crater Dune Field

PIA09669

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Kaiser Crater Dune Field
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_003141_1330 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_003141_1330 ]) shows a sand dune field in Kaiser Crater, a 210 km (130 miles) wide impact basin in the Hellespontus region of Mars. Winds have trapped massive quantities of sand on the floors of broad craters in this region. The steepest slopes on each dune, the slip faces, point to the east indicating that the dominant wind direction in this part of the dune field is from west to east. Patches of seasonal frost can be seen in the low areas between the dunes. The subimage reveals smaller secondary dunes superimposed on the surface of the large dunes and even smaller ripples that appear between and perpendicular to the secondary dunes. Avalanching or mass movement of sand has left deep scars on the slip face of the large dune in the upper left portion of the subimage. This may indicate that the sand is not loose but is weakly cemented. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 3:43 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -46.6° Degrees longitude (East): 19.3° Range to target site: 263.9 km (164.9 miles) Original image scale range: 26.4 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~79 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 17.5° Phase angle: 74.6° Solar incidence angle: 58°, with the Sun about 32° above the horizon Solar longitude: 209.0°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

Tvashtar Composite

PIA09359

Jupiter

LORRI

Title	Tvashtar Composite
Original Caption Released with Image	Variations in the appearance of the giant plume from the Tvashtar volcano on Jupiter's moon Io are seen in this composite of the best photos taken by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) during its Jupiter flyby in late February-early March 2007. New Horizons was fortunate to witness this unusually large plume during its brief Jupiter flyby, the Galileo Jupiter orbiter spent more than five years imaging the volcanic moon (between 1996 and 2001) without ever capturing such detailed pictures of a large Io plume. The plume is roughly 330 kilometers (200 miles) high. The cause of the fine wispy structure in the plume, which varies strikingly from image to image, is unknown, but these pictures may help scientists to understand the phenomenon. The pictures were taken at distances ranging from 3.1 to 2.3 million kilometers (1.9 to 1.4 million miles), but they have been scaled to show the plume at the same relative size in every frame. Illumination conditions also vary: in the final image, Io's shadow cuts across the plume and hides all but its topmost regions, and the glow of hot lava can be seen on the nightside at the source of the plume. The times of the images, from top to bottom, are: February 26, 18:38 (Universal Time), February 26, 21:01, February 28, 03:50, February 28, 04:40, February 28, 11:04, and March 1, 00:35.

Monitoring South Polar Cap Swiss-Cheese Terrain Change

Monitoring South Polar Cap S …

PIA09625

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Monitoring South Polar Cap Swiss-Cheese Terrain Change
Original Caption Released with Image	) is taken in one of the troughs that are typical within the stack of Martian south polar layered deposits. Viewed at low resolution, sequences of layers of different albedos, or brightnesses, and/or textures can be seen. At full resolution, the different tones and textures can be seen to be due to different shapes and sizes of polygonal fractures, surface knobiness, and surface cover and concentration of frost, often within polygonal fractures. Faint criss-crossing troughs and dimples can be discerned on even the smoothest surfaces. Perhaps the most notable features in the image are the distinct round to heart-shaped to blob-shaped depressions scattered throughout the smooth areas, dubbed "swiss-cheese terrain." The smooth material is solid carbon dioxide ice representing the uppermost layer of the south polar residual cap. The retention of carbon dioxide ice throughout the year by the southern polar cap is one characteristic that distinguishes it significantly from Mars' north polar cap. The swiss-cheese depressions are areas in which sublimation of the carbon dioxide ice was initiated at a particular location and spread laterally from that point, creating rounded depressions typically several to 10 meters deep. In HiRISE images, it is evident that this carbon dioxide-rich material is actually comprised of several individual horizontal layers. In this particular location, several images had been acquired over the previous decade by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) at slightly lower resolutions. In a series of those MOC images, the swiss-cheese depressions were seen to enlarge radially, or grow over a time period of several years. Part of the HiRISE imaging campaign includes continued monitoring of these features (at higher resolution) to understand their growth rates and patterns. In turn, we can better comprehend the role of carbon dioxide -- the main component of the Mars atmosphere -- in the current Mars climate regime. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:42 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -87.0° Degrees longitude (East): 281.8° Range to target site: 247.8 km (154.9 miles) Original image scale range: 49.6 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~149 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 50 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 1.6° Phase angle: 87.0° Solar incidence angle: 86°, with the Sun about 4° above the horizon Solar longitude: 193.3°, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_002804_0930 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002804_0930 ]

Monitoring South Polar Cap S …

PIA09625

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Monitoring South Polar Cap Swiss-Cheese Terrain Change
Original Caption Released with Image	) is taken in one of the troughs that are typical within the stack of Martian south polar layered deposits. Viewed at low resolution, sequences of layers of different albedos, or brightnesses, and/or textures can be seen. At full resolution, the different tones and textures can be seen to be due to different shapes and sizes of polygonal fractures, surface knobiness, and surface cover and concentration of frost, often within polygonal fractures. Faint criss-crossing troughs and dimples can be discerned on even the smoothest surfaces. Perhaps the most notable features in the image are the distinct round to heart-shaped to blob-shaped depressions scattered throughout the smooth areas, dubbed "swiss-cheese terrain." The smooth material is solid carbon dioxide ice representing the uppermost layer of the south polar residual cap. The retention of carbon dioxide ice throughout the year by the southern polar cap is one characteristic that distinguishes it significantly from Mars' north polar cap. The swiss-cheese depressions are areas in which sublimation of the carbon dioxide ice was initiated at a particular location and spread laterally from that point, creating rounded depressions typically several to 10 meters deep. In HiRISE images, it is evident that this carbon dioxide-rich material is actually comprised of several individual horizontal layers. In this particular location, several images had been acquired over the previous decade by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) at slightly lower resolutions. In a series of those MOC images, the swiss-cheese depressions were seen to enlarge radially, or grow over a time period of several years. Part of the HiRISE imaging campaign includes continued monitoring of these features (at higher resolution) to understand their growth rates and patterns. In turn, we can better comprehend the role of carbon dioxide -- the main component of the Mars atmosphere -- in the current Mars climate regime. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:42 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -87.0° Degrees longitude (East): 281.8° Range to target site: 247.8 km (154.9 miles) Original image scale range: 49.6 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~149 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 50 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 1.6° Phase angle: 87.0° Solar incidence angle: 86°, with the Sun about 4° above the horizon Solar longitude: 193.3°, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_002804_0930 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002804_0930 ]

Aram Chaos Sediments

PIA09624

Sol (our sun)

HiRISE

Title	Aram Chaos Sediments
Original Caption Released with Image	Click on image for larger version Aram Chaos appears to be a former impact crater. The terrain is disrupted, giving it a chaotic appearance (hence the name "chaos"). Scientists have postulated that a lake may have once existed inside the crater and sediments were laid down within the lake. The mineral hematite (rich in iron) has been detected by orbiting spacecraft within Aram Chaos. Hematite has been identified in several other locations on Mars, including at the Mars Exploration Rover landing site in Meridiani Planum. The hematite at both Meridiani and Aram Chaos most likely formed by precipitation in water. This HiRISE image (PSP_002839_1825 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002839_1825 ]) shows the light-toned sediments inside Aram Chaos that could have formed in a former lake. Unfortunately, dark debris now obscures much of this sediment, making it difficult to view and interpret the rocks. The light-toned layered deposit in the south (bottom) of the image is higher standing and has a pitted surface. Circular structures with dark centers are likely to be impact craters that have been partly filled with dark debris, including sand. More irregular depressions appear to result from erosion of layered beds within the sediments. Wind could erode materials that are slightly weaker more quickly and produce the irregular topography seen along the surface of the deposit. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 3:41 PM Degrees latitude (centered): 2.7° Degrees longitude (East): 339.3° Range to target site: 272.3 km (170.2 miles) Original image scale range: 27.2 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~82 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 0.0° Phase angle: 56.1° Solar incidence angle: 56°, with the Sun about 34° above the horizon Solar longitude: 194.9°, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.

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