Tag Archives: USGS

Earth as Art: Icelandic Tiger

The Catholic Astronomer avatarPosted on by

This stretch of Iceland’s northern coast resembles a tiger’s head complete with stripes of orange, black, and white. The tiger’s mouth is the great Eyjafjörður, a deep fjord that juts into the mainland between steep mountains. The name means “island fjord,” derived from the tiny, tear-shaped Hrísey Island near its mouth. The ice-free port city of Akureyri lies near the fjord’s narrow tip, and is Iceland’s second largest population center after the capital, Reykjavík. ~USGSDownload this image from USGS (7800 x 8400 px,  39.7 MB). View all the USGS Earth as Art Galleries: Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, Gallery 4.  Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite of the Landsat program. Launched on April 15, 1999, Landsat 7’s primary goal is to refresh the global archive of satellite photos, providing up-to-date and cloud-free images. ~Wikipedia Landsat 7 orbits the Earth every 99 minutes in a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite provides complete coverage of the Earth every 16 days.   … Continue reading →

Earth as Art: Earth’s Aquarium

The Catholic Astronomer avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 1 of 2 in the series Earth as Art

These green and blue swirls in the Bering Sea reveal the bottom of the food chain in the ocean. Microscopic organisms called phytoplankton, which are important to fish populations, may be too small to be seen individually, but in vast numbers they are visible from space. The white clouds in the image look like bubbles in an aquarium. ~USGS Download this image from USGS (7801 x 8400 px, 18 MB). View the USGS Earth as Art Galleries: Gallery 1, Gallery 2, Gallery 3, Gallery 4 Landsat 8 images the entire Earth every 16 days in an 8-day offset from Landsat 7. Data collected by the instruments onboard the satellite are available to download at no charge from EarthExplorer, GloVis, or the LandsatLook Viewer within 24 hours of acquisition. ~USGS … Continue reading →

Earth as Art: Lambert Glacier

The Catholic Astronomer avatarPosted on by
This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Earth as Art

The Lambert Glacier in Antarctica is the world’s largest glacier. The focal point of this image is an icefall that feeds into the glacier from the vast ice sheet covering the polar plateau. Ice flows like water, albeit much more slowly. Cracks can be seen in this icefall as it bends and twists on its slow-motion descent 1300 feet (400 meters) to the glacier below. ~USGS Download this image from USGS (7904 x 8512 px, 24.2 MB). View the USGS Earth as Art Gallery 1 View the USGS Earth as Art Gallery 2 Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite of the Landsat program. Launched on April 15, 1999, Landsat 7’s primary goal is to refresh the global archive of satellite photos, providing up-to-date and cloud-free images. ~Wikipedia … Continue reading →