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800 DPI

Gal�pagos Islands, Pacific Ocean (October 1994)

STS068-168-028

The Gal�pagos archipelago is a group of 16 generally rough volcanic islands and numerous islets. This east-northeast-looking, low-oblique photograph shows the islands of Fernandina, Isabela, San Salvador, and Santa Cruz. The islands of the Gal�pagos rose from the ocean floor as tops of volcanoes about 10 million years ago and have never been connected to the South American mainland 650 miles (1045 kilometers) to the east. Isabela Island (seahorse-shaped) has five major volcanic peaks ranging to 5540 feet (1690 meters) in height. Several volcanoes on the islands have been active during the 20th century. The total land area of all the islands, islets, and rocks probably does not exceed 3000 square miles (8000 square kilometers). Isabela Island covers 1700 square miles (4400 square kilometers), more than half of the land area of the archipelago. Though the climate of the islands can vary, the Peru (Humboldt) Current makes the climate mild and dry with temperatures seldom rising above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) despite the equatorial location. The Gal�pagos Islands were discovered in 1555 and named for the gigantic land tortoises found there. The islands—famous for their unique vegetation and wildlife—are a wildlife sanctuary. The islands were visited in 1835 by Charles Darwin who gathered data that he used later to support his theory of natural selection.

Grand Canyon, Arizona (February 1994)

STS060-083-005

The Grand Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world with a depth of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), can be seen in this spectacular, west-looking, low-oblique photograph. The Colorado River cut through rocks billions of years old to create this canyon. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (466 kilometers) long and averages nearly 10 miles (16 kilometers) in width. The snow-covered, forested Kaibab Plateau (north of the canyon) and the Coconino Plateau (south of the canyon) are visible. The western portions of the Painted Desert can be seen east of the canyon where the Little Colorado River joins the Colorado River.

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia (August 1992)

STS046-077-031

The Great Barrier Reef is a complex assemblage of hundreds of individual coral reefs that extend along the Queensland coast of Australia for approximately 1200 miles (2000 kilometers). The reefs in this photograph, some of the largest within the Great Barrier Reef province, are located along the eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula, near the northern end of the largest and longest coral formation in the world. Many of the reefs are named—the large reef, approximately 13 miles (20 kilometers) from the coast, is Magpie Reef; the large reef south of Magpie is Heoge Reef. (Refer to STS-059-L22-035 for a synoptic photograph and additional information about the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef.)

Great Lakes, U.S.A. and Canada (June 1991)

STS040-077-044

Portions of all five Great Lakes, the largest combined body of fresh water in the world [covering an area of 95 000 square miles (246 050 square kilometers)], can be seen in this high-oblique, northeast-looking photograph. Lake Michigan alone covers an area of 22 300 square miles (57 755 square kilometers). This lake can be seen in the center of the photograph, with Chicago on its southwestern shore. The Great Lakes were formed about 12 000 years ago at the end of the ice age, when glacier-carved lake basins were filled with meltwater. The lakes are interconnected by straits, short rivers, and canals. Water from the Great Lakes exits at the eastern end of Lake Ontario into the Saint Lawrence River, which flows on eastward into the Atlantic Ocean.

Greece (October 1989)

STS034-086-096

The terrain in this high-oblique, northwest-looking photograph is indicative of the rugged, mountainous landscape characterizing most of Greece. Two major landform regions are captured in this photograph—the northwest-southeast-trending Pindos (Pindhos) Mountains in central Greece north of the Gulf of Corinth (Korinthiak�s) and the Peloponnesus (Peloponnisos) Peninsula south of the Gulf of Corinth (center of the photograph). The Pindos Mountains, a massive continuation of the Dinaric Alps of Albania and the former Yugoslavia, make the land inhospitable and travel difficult. This rugged terrain caused the Greeks to become a seafaring people, second only to the Norwegians in Europe. The capital city of Athens (lighter area) is barely discernible along the southern edge of the broad peninsula near the eastern edge of the photograph. The Peloponnesus Peninsula, connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, has been likened to a hand with a thumb and three fingers. The main part of the hand is Arcadia, the central mountainous area, which is a southeastward continuation of the Pindos Mountains. Greece is flanked on the west by the Ionian Sea and on the east by the Aegean Sea.

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