# Presentation: 173872

## Where on Earth...?

**Where on Earth...?**
**MISR Mystery Image**
**Quiz #10**
**31 July 2002**

**Notes:**
Here's another chance to play geographical detective! These images from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) were captured by the instrument's nadir camera on July 31, 2002, and show a natural-color (top) and false-color (bottom) view of a 291 kilometer x 158 kilometer area. 
The false-color image includes data from the camera's near-infrared band, and accentuates the appearance of vegetation. North is toward the top. 
Below are nine statements about the large, leaf-shaped island in the lower left part of the image area. Only some of these statements are true. Use any reference materials you like, and mark each statement true or false: 
1. The island is known by at least three different names. 
2. At least one language spoken on the island is not in common usage anywhere else. 
3. The capital city of the province to which this island belongs is located within 200 kilometers of the northern boundary of the image area. 
4. The island's shores are home to its country's most spectacular coral reefs. 
5. Due to the extreme depth of the sea floor surrounding the island, sea level fluctuations during the Quaternary Period have not changed the horizontal location of its coastline by more than 500 meters. 
6. There are no fruit bats on the island. 
7. The region within which the island is situated harbors a freshwater turtle that is exceptional in its possession of an anatomical characteristic otherwise typical of marine turtles. 
8. Insect control has been tested as a means of combatting an invasive aquatic weed that threatens wetland habitats in the island's vicinity. 
9. Species of Avicennia are found in the island's coastal regions. 
Answers (added September 11, 2002)
1. TRUE: Pulau Kimaam, Pulau Dolok, Pulau Yos Sudarso, and Frederik Hendrik Island are all names used to refer to this island, which is part of the Indonesian province of West Papua (also known as Irian Jaya).
2. TRUE: Linguists have identified over 500 languages spoken within the "Trans-New Guinea" region (comprising West Papua and Papua New Guinea). At least two languages within this group, Ndom and Riantana, are only used by people living on the island.
3. FALSE: Jayapura, the capital city of West Papua, is located more than 500 kilometers from the northern boundary of the image area.
4. FALSE: Although there are many well-developed reefs in the waters of West Papua, none are found along the southeastern coast. Large amounts of sediment (apparent in the image around the entire coastline) prohibit reef development in this region.
5. FALSE: Sea level fluctuations cause major displacements in the horizontal location of coastlines in this region. The Arafura Sea surrounding the island is a shallow (50 to 80 meters) continental shelf, and sea levels during the peak of the last ice age (about 20,000 years ago), were more than 100 meters lower than today.
6. FALSE: Among the bats known to live on the island are the Lesser tube-nosed fruit bat and Broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat.
7. TRUE: The pig-nosed turtle found in northern Australia and southern Papua, possesses flippers resembling those of marine turtles.
8. TRUE: Many of the wetland areas in this region are choked with Water Hyacinth. In November 2000, a course was conducted on the breeding and use of insect biocontrol agents (weevil Neochetina) of Water Hyacinth infestations.
9. TRUE: The island's coastline includes some of the largest mangrove forests in the world, and several types of Avicennia mangroves can be found at the Pulau Kimaam Wildlife Reserve.

## Typhoon

**Sinlaku**
**5 September 2002**

**Notes:**
One of the more destructive cyclones to emerge from the northern hemisphere 2002 summer storm season was Typhoon Sinlaku. Several attributes of this storm event are portrayed in these data products from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer. The images were acquired on September 5, when the western portion of the storm was situated over the Okinawan island chain. Over the next few days it moved west-northwest, sweeping over Taiwan before making landfall along China's Zhejian province on the 7th. The typhoon forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, caused major power outages, and at least 26 people were reported dead or missing before the storm weakened as it moved inland.
While the nature and formation of individual storm events is relatively well understood, the influence of clouds on climate is difficult to assess due to the variable nature of cloud cover at various altitudes. MISR's data products are designed to help understand these influences. Typhoon Sinlaku is shown at left as a natural-color view observed by MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera. The center panel shows the cloud-top height field derived using automated stereoscopic processing of data from multiple MISR cameras. Relative height variations, such as the clearing within the storm's eye, are well represented. Areas where heights could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray. 
Clouds have a significant influence on the global radiation balance of the Earth's atmosphere, and the improvement of climate models requires more accurate information on how different types of clouds influence Earth's energy budget. One measure of this influence is albedo, which is the amount of sunlight reflected back to space divided by amount of incident sunlight. Bright objects have high albedo. Retrieved local albedo values for Typhoon Sinlaku are shown at right. Generation of this product is dependent on observed cloud radiances as a function of viewing angle and the cloud height field. Over the short distances (2.2 kilometers) that MISR's local albedo product is generated, values can be greater than 1.0 due to the contributions from the sides of the clouds. Areas where albedo could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray.
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and views almost the entire globe every 9 days. This image is a portion of the data acquired during Terra orbit 14442, and covers an area of about 380 kilometers x 1408 kilometers. It utilizes data from blocks 65 to 74 within World Reference System-2 path 113.

## Islands in the 

**Midst of the World**
**30 September 2001**

## The Clouds 

**of Isidore**
**20 September 2002**

**Notes:**
These views of Hurricane Isidore were acquired by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on September 20, 2002. After bringing large-scale flooding to western Cuba, Isidore was upgraded (on September 21) from a tropical storm to a category 3 hurricane. Sweeping westward to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the hurricane caused major destruction and left hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Although weakened after passing over the Yucatan landmass, Isidore regained strength as it moved northward over the Gulf of Mexico. 
At left is a colorful visualization of cloud extent that superimposes MISR's radiometric camera-by-camera cloud mask (RCCM) over natural-color radiance imagery, both derived from data acquired with the instrument's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera. Using brightness and statistical metrics, the RCCM is one of several techniques MISR uses to determine whether an area is clear or cloudy. In this rendition, the RCCM has been color-coded, and purple = cloudy with high confidence, blue = cloudy with low confidence, green = clear with low confidence, and red = clear with high confidence. 
In addition to providing information on meteorological events, MISR's data products are designed to help improve our understanding of the influences of clouds on climate. Cloud heights and albedos are among the variables that govern these influences. (Albedo is the amount of sunlight reflected back to space divided by the amount of incident sunlight.) The center panel is the cloud-top height field retrieved using automated stereoscopic processing of data from multiple MISR cameras. Areas where heights could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray. In some areas, such as the southern portion of the image, the stereo retrieval was able to detect thin, high clouds that were not picked up by the RCCM's nadir view. Retrieved local albedo values for Isidore are shown at right. Generation of the albedo product is dependent upon observed cloud radiances as a function of viewing angle as well as the height field. Note that over the short distances (2.2 kilometers) that the local albedo product is generated, values can be greater than 1.0 due to contributions from cloud sides. Areas where albedo could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray. 
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. These data products were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 14669. The panels cover an area of about 380 kilometers x 704 kilometers, and utilize data from blocks 70 to 79 within World Reference System-2 path 17.