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Red Sea - Lava Fields, Eritrea (November 1985)

STS61A-36-0097

Most of the volcanoes featured in this photograph lie within Eritrea, a small country along the west bank of the Red Sea that gained its independence May 24, 1993. Several individual volcanoes captured in this near-vertical photograph can be located by their lava flow patterns or by their calderas. Dubbi Volcano, near the center of the photograph, is the source of the dark radiating lava flows that extend generally northward toward the Red Sea. Because darker lava generally indicates fairly recent flows, photographs such as this one provide an excellent tool for mapping the distribution pattern and extent of the lava flow. A much smaller recent lava flow, probably emanating from a fissure, is discernible east of Dubbi. Prior to the last Dubbi eruption in 1990, two other eruptions occurred during the mid-1800s. Two sizable calderas of extinct volcanoes (Nabro and Mallahle) are visible south-southwest of Dubbi. The small area of wind streaks (wind erosion) along the coast suggests that the predominate wind direction is southeast to northwest.

Riyadh (Ar Riyad), Saudi Arabia (April 1994)

STS059-225-044

The capital city of Riyadh, with an estimated population of more than 2.5 million, lies within a wide east-west economic belt that crosses the Arabian Peninsula. The "waist" of the peninsula extends from the port city of Ad Dammam on the western shore of the Persian Gulf, westward to Riyadh, and then to Makkah (Mecca) and the Red Sea port city of Jiddah (Jeddah). This economic belt boasts one of the world’s most modern and highly effective internal transportation and communication networks. Riyadh, situated in an oasis, has served as the focal point for desert trade and travel for many years. The darker, linear features in this photograph are numerous highways and streets traversing Riyadh. Riyadh International Airport, with its V-shaped runways, is located north of the city. The meandering line of dark vegetation along the southwest side of the city is the Wadi (watercourse) Hanifah. This and similar photographs taken from space provide a great opportunity to measure and monitor growth of a rapidly expanding desert urban area with very little obscuring vegetation.

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