Stephen P. Broker
Untitled Space Shuttle photographs, NASA/Johnson Space Center
The Living Earth: A Topographical Satellite Map
, (Earth Map -- Living Earth Map) color composite (NOAA satellite images). Published by SPACESHOTS Inc., Studio City, California
Photographers Reto Stockli and Alan Nelson
Earth -- The Blue Marble
, composite photograph: image of Earth and clouds (photographed 9 September 1997) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES); ocean data collected in late September and early October 1997 by NASA's Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite; land color portrayed by a vegetation index calculated using data collected from September 9 through 19, 1997 by Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instruments onboard NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES).
Aerial and satellite imagery have redefined our ability to view Earth's landscapes. There are numerous publications and Internet websites that provide stunning photographs of the land and water surfaces of the Earth, rich in documentary, scientific, and artistic meaning. A relative of mine, Robert Hummer of Green Valley, Arizona, played a key role in the development of the camera that took the first image of the whole Earth from space (1966). Since then, vast portions of the Earth's surface have been imaged from space, and they continue to provide important environmental monitoring of the planet.
The view of the Southern New England coastline (page 16 of
Orbit
, from Cape Cod and the Islands to Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound) is a vivid image of a "drowned coastline," generated by Pleistocene glaciation and altered by rising sea levels. This photograph defines the location of my New Haven school and its students in a larger context than is generally perceived by many of them. The action of wind and waves is evident in the sand bar extensions of the Cape (Provincetown and Monomoy), and Long Island's Montauk and Orient Points and its barrier beaches. Numerous river valleys dissect the mainland coastline. They reflect the north-south movement of glacial ice more than 14,000 years ago. An equally dramatic view in winter (
Orbit
, page 180) shows Southern New England from Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Cape Ann to Narragansett Bay and Quabbin Reservoir of central Massachusetts. These and other NASA images provide a visual context for our consideration of environmental issues in our part of the country.
The Living Earth: A Topographical Satellite Map
is a composite view of Earth from space, showing the world's poles, oceans, and continental land masses under cloud-free conditions. The sea floor surfaces are shaded in on the composite image, and national boundaries are superimposed on the land. This remarkable computer generated image of Earth can be used to initiate student discussion about the shapes of the continents, the profound differences in land cover of Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the distribution of such ecosystems as the tropical, temperate, desert, polar, and marine, and the consequent global connectedness of our current environmental problems.
Earth -- The Blue Marble
is yet another computer generated view of our planet that has used computer enhancement to exaggerate the elements of vertical relief on Earth's surface. Mountain ranges stand out in artificial grandeur as North America and South America appear to spin below the space-based vantage point. The dull shades of gray and white of the lifeless Moon are seen beyond the living "blue marble" Earth. Swirling storm clouds hover above the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, and Earth's land surfaces provide rich greens and browns in a surrounding sea of deep blue. Whether factual depictions of Planet Earth or computer generated representations of the planet that twist space and defy time and ever-present weather conditions, these space images are invaluable for the teaching of environmental science.
Supplementary Photographs
Photographer Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
VIA.
Snow Across New England and Quebec.
(Image from 15 November 2004) Sensor: Terra/MODIS; Website: veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/6749/NortheastUS.A2004319.1600.1km.jpg
Photography by MODIS Land Rapid Response Team/NASA
New England 11/14/04
(2004)
Website: modis-snow-ice.gsfc.nasa.gov/111404pa.html
Photographer Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Aqua MODIS true color image of the Eastern United States, 22 March 2004
,
(Image from 24 March 2004)
Website: modis-snow-ice.gsfc.nasa.gov/032204eus.html
Photography by NASA/GSFC/JPL, MISR Team
MISR Looks at Cape Cod.
(Image from 22 November 2000)
Website: veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/1501/PIA02633.tif
Photography by SPACESHOTS, INC (Studio City, California)
Cape Cod: A Satellite View
, satellite image Website: www.spaceshots.com
