**STS-58 Earth Observations Photographic Debrief Captions **

**(November 22, 1993)**

*Dave Amsbury*

**STS058-72-004: Distant, North-viewing Oblique of Owens Valley and the
Sierra Nevada**

**STS058-73-084: Medium-distance Oblique of Owens Valley and the Sierra
Nevada**

**STS058-80-035: Sam Rayburn and Livingston Reservoirs, Southeast
Texas**

**STS058-80-036: Toledo Bend Reservoir, Texas and Louisiana**

**STS058-81-007: Finger Lakes of New York**

Southeastward view across the Finger Lakes of New York, down the
Susquehanna River valley, to the Appalachian Mountains.

**STS058-82-058: Detail of Owens Dry Lake and the Southern Sierra**

**STS058-83-028: Detail of Death Valley**

This is the first time this area been photographed from a U.S. manned
spacecraft.

**STS058-83-066: Guadalupe Mountains and Salt Flat, Texas and New
Mexico**

**STS058-85-029: The Region of Timbuktu**

**STS058-85-033: The Inland Delta of the Niger River**

**STS058-93-093: Details of the Inland Delta of the Niger River**

**STS058-94-093: Detail of the Southern Guadalupe Mountains**

This view includes El Capitan, the highest peak in Texas.

**STS058-103-033: Short Focal-length Shot of the Sierra Nevada and Owens
Valley**

*Kim Willis*

**STS058-81-024 & 89-013: Colorado Springs, Front Range of the Colorado
Rocky Mountains**

The two different viewing angles of Colorado Springs and the Rocky
Mountains are an excellent teaching tool for students. The wider angle
photograph helps students orient themselves by locating key features.
Pikes Peak, elevation 14 109 feet, is the isolated, snow covered
mountain in the foreground. At the base of Pikes Peak and the Rampart
Range is the city of Colorado Springs. Monument Ridge is highlighted by
a dark colored area perpendicular to the Front Range. The city of Denver
is located on the right edge of the photograph, along the Front Range.

**STS058-101-057 & 053: San Antonio, Edwards Plateau, Texas**

The northern part of San Antonio lies on the Balcones Escarpment which
dramatically delineates the darker, and topographically higher, Edwards
Plateau to the north from the plains in the south. In the near nadir
view of San Antonio the new theme park, Fiesta Texas, is visible on the
north side of the city, on the outside of Loop 1604, and next to the
light, bright colored limestone quarry. San Antonio International
Airport is located on the north side of the city, between the inner Loop
410 and outer Loop 1604. To the right of the city airport is Randolph
Air Force Base. Inside Loop 410 and on the southeast side is Brooks Air
Force Base. The long runway on the southwest side is Kelly Air Force
Base.

*Kam Lulla*

**STS058-72-089: Impressive Photograph of Nile Delta**

Land use and agricultural features are clearly mapped from this photo.

**STS058-72-096: Kuwait**

A remarkable scene with Kuwaiti landmarks.

**STS058-74-005: Himalayas**

Front range of the Himalayas and the vegetation zones.

**STS058-74-007:** **Himalayas**

Front range of the Himalayas and the vegetation zones.

**STS058-76-081: Lake Chad**

**STS058-76-082: Lake Chad**

Our long term ecology site shows the water level changes.

**STS058-76-090: Madagascar**

Erosion and silting in the Betsiboka region.

**STS058-78-001: India**

Kashmiri land uses and landscape.

**STS058-80-010: Missouri after the Floods of 1993**

**STS058-80-018: St. Louis after the Floods of 1993**

**STS058-86-073: Lake Nasser in Egypt, Full of Water**

**STS058-91-043: Omo Delta Changes**

**STS058-91-075: Omo Delta Changes**

**STS058-95-038: Kutch Region, India**

**STS058-95-040: Indus River, Pakistan**

**STS058-114-005: Los Angeles Fires, USA**

*Cindy Evans*

**STS058-71-092: Mt. Ararat, Turkey**

**STS058-109-025: Mt. Ararat, Turkey (CIR)**

These two photographs are spectacular images of one of the largest
volcanoes outside the Pacific. Ararat is located north of Lake Van, near
the Turkish, Iranian, and Armenian borders. The Ararat massif comprises
Greater Ararat (5156m) and Lesser Ararat (3903m). Obvious features
include the large, south-facing summit breach on Greater Ararat, smaller
subsidiary craters on the west flank of Greater Ararat, and a line of
cinder cones, probably following a fracture zone between the Greater and
Lesser peaks. Several lava flows are obvious: for example, a large,
bulbous flow can be seen coming from one of the western craters.

**STS058-73-023: Mt. Etna, Sicily**

Mt. Etna is shown here, again, in remarkable detail, producing a steam
plume. Although the most recent eruption has ended, this view shows the
area covered by the 1992-1993 lava flows.

**STS058-85-075: Crater Lake and the Southern Cascades**

This is a spectacular oblique view to the north along the Cascade Range
of southern Oregon. Crater Lake is the large circular lake near the
middle.

**STS058-93-076: Mt. Lascar, Chile**

Mt. Lascar, in northern Chile, had its largest historic eruption in
April 1993. At that time, large amounts of ash and other volcanic
material were deposited over a large area east of the Andes. Immediately
after the eruption, the unconsolidated material was picked up by high
winds, and carried eastward. This view shows Lascar with a small steam
plume, and demonstrates that the process of redeposition of the ash is
complete. The area east of the mountain formerly covered in ash six
months ago is now completely scoured. The rate of removal, documented
through Space Shuttle photography from STS-55 through STS-58, is
tremendous. We believe this is an important and likely an unappreciated
geologic process.

**STS058-101-040A: Mt. Fuji**

**STS058-110-036: Mt. Fuji (CIR)**

Mt. Fuji is something of a national icon for Japan. Because it is
located just south of Tokyo, one of the world\'s largest cities, it also
symbolizes the extent to which the Japanese have learned to live with
volcanic hazards. These two views show the conical mountain in detail,
although were probably taken on two different days, judging by
differences in the snow cover on the summit.

**STS058-103-065: Sakurajima Volcano, Kyushu Japan**

**STS058-111-084: Sakurajima Volcano, (CIR)**

Sakurajima is one of the world\'s most active volcanoes. Although not
actually erupting when these views were taken, Sakurajima features an
almost continuous plume of steam from its summit. These views provide
the unprecedented detailed views of the active summit crater, as well as
the neighboring crater on the summit and the large pyroclastic flows to
the sea on the eastern flank.

**STS058-103-066: Mt. Unzen, Kyushu**

**STS058-110-031: Mt. Unzen (CIR)**

Currently, Unzen is the most active volcano in Japan. It started
erupting in May 1991 (one month before the Pinatubo eruption). The
initial eruption killed over 40 people, who were buried in the fast
moving flows down the eastern flank (pictured here). The eruption
continues with the growth of several successive lava domes near the
summit, which occasionally collapse to produce more pyroclastic flows.
These are the first detailed views of Unzen since the start of the
eruption in 1991.

**STS058-110-001: Pinatubo**

This photograph, taken 10/21, documents the newest of the large mudflows
to sweep the river drainages after the passage of a tropical storm in
early October. It is both a new datum in a time series, and a new
perspective on the changes taking place on and around the mountain after
the devastating 1991 eruption.

**STS058-110-026 & 027: Cheju-Do, Korea**

This small island which lies south of the Korean peninsula, is
remarkable for the large number of cinder cones marking the surface.

*Sue Runco*

**STS058-75-018: Cloud Line along Namib Desert Coast, Air/Sea
Interface**

This distinct cloud line off the northern coast off the Namib desert is
a result of the influence of the northward-flowing, cold Benguela
Current on the local cloud formation. The cold water allows low stratus
or fog formation. A pocket of warmer water warms the air which can hold
more moisture so the low stratus clouds don\'t form as readily. Then,
dry air moves off the land over the water which further inhibits cloud
formation and emphasizes the distinct line of the colder water offshore.

**STS058-78-066: Sunglint, Eddies in Persian Gulf, Khark Is., Iran**

The sunglint highlights the northward moving current, eddies, and ship
wakes traveling to and from Khark Island off the coast of Iran. The
coastal bathymetry can also be seen.

**STS058-78-067: Sunglint, Eddies, Ship Wakes and Reflected Internal
Waves in Persian Gulf (specific coast is TBD)**

In sunglint, the current flowing from the top of the screen is creating
eddies along the boundaries of the current. Some internal waves are
being reflected off of a coast which is just off the photo. The current
does not appear to be too strong because the ship wakes are not being
distorted.

**STS058-78-095: Contrails over the Eastern U.S.**

Though the parameters for the formation of contrails is a relatively
known quantity, this photo demonstrates how these parameters can change
over a given area. It also shows the tremendous amount of air traffic
over the east coast.

**STS058-80-090: Cloud/Aerosol Colors over the Eastern Equatorial
Pacific**

The upper level clouds in this photo appear to be darker or purple in
areas. Is this what you saw or is it a function of the film?

**STS058-82-050: Stratus with Gravity Waves off Pt. Reyes, CA, Air/Sea
Interface**

Off the west coast of continents such as North and South America and
Africa, cold currents flow along the coast and set up the conditions for
low stratus and fog to form. In this photo, off Pt. Reyes, CA, just
north of San Francisco, warm, moist maritime air is coming from the
southwest, creating a small area of stratus and gravity waves.

**STS058-95-038: Cyclonic Flow off the Coast from the Indus River
Delta**

This is an area of convergence (confluence) where the winds from shore
are moving into the winds coming from the Arabian Sea. The converging
winds are enough to cause convection for some thunderstorms to form.

**STS058-95-099: Thunderstorms over the Atlantic, Gulf Stream**

This is another example of how water temperature influences weather
phenomena. The warmer water of the Gulf Stream provides enough uplift
for the cumulus cloud to become cumulonimbus clouds or thunderstorms.

**STS058-97-001: Strong Front over Gulf of Mexico, \"White Tornado\"**

**STS41C-40-2135: \"White Tornado\" Taken in April 1984**

Mario is co-authoring an article about this phenomena. This feature
occasionally occurs over the Gulf of Mexico or Florida when the
conditions are right. When a cold front passes over the Gulf and there
are divergent winds aloft (around 300 mb level) over the front, intense
convection occurs forming a white tornado.

**STS058-106-022: Oblique View of the Amazon River Delta**

**STS058-104-074: Near-nadir View of Sediment from the Amazon River
Delta**

Coastal and river discharge areas around the world are being studied for
a number of reasons by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Navy
research and development offices (e.g., ONR), and various international
organizations. The South American coast and river outflows, primarily
from the Amazon and the Orinoco, are being studied to determine (1) the
degree to which biological productivity has been enhanced in areas
receiving river discharge, (2) the impact on water quality (especially
demand for dissolved oxygen) of this nutrient-enhanced productivity, and
(3) the fate of carbon fixed in highly productive coastal areas of the
outflow region and the subsequent impact of this enhanced productivity
on living resources. These three items being studied are part of larger
research efforts to model hypoxia and study carbon flux in the shelf
waters. This photo shows the distribution of sediment from the Amazon
river. The dark line through the sediment plume appears to be caused by
the current. Why the current only covers that small swath remains to be
determined.

**STS058-110-44Y: CIR of Coastal Features near P\'yongyang, North
Korea**

**STS058-105-083: River Flowing through P\'yongyang, North Korea**

These photos show the quality of information which can be obtained about
coastal features from Shuttle photography. The headwaters of this river
flow through the major city called P\'yongyang, North Korea. Bathymetry
is also illustrated in this photo.

**STS058-111-032: CIR of Sendai Bay, Japan**

The detail in this photo is easily comparable to the Landsat Thematic
Mapper image which has a resolution of 30m X 30m. The difference is that
ordering this analogue photo is about \$6-10.00 where as the digital
Landsat is currently about \$5000.00. Some of the features shown in this
photo are: the most northern coastal city of Ishinomaki, is Matsushima
Airport (moving southward), the city of Shiogama on the south shore of
the bay, and the large city of Sendai. The mountains to the west are
part of the Ousammyaku Mountain chain.

*Justin Wilkinson*

**STS058-74-034: Megagrooves, Lut Desert, Iran**

Megagrooves are linear valleys up to one hundred feet deep which have
been carved entirely by the wind. Here linear megagrooves have been
carved into soft lake sediments by the dominant NW wind. For this kind
of intense wind erosion to take place, it is necessary that the
vegetation cover be almost non-existent. Consequently, megagrooves only
develop in the most arid parts of the Earth. This is the most dramatic
view we have of the megagrooves.

**STS058-75-018: Linear Cloud Boundaries, Namibia**

Linear cloud boundaries off the coast of the Namib Desert in Namibia
suggest that warm dry air is flowing seaward and generating a sharp
boundary where it meets the saturated air of the offshore stratus cloud
deck.

**STS058-75-038: Political Boundary between South Africa and Lesotho**

The small Kingdom of Lesotho meets South Africa on the Caledon River.
This view shows the distinct difference in vegetation cover on either
side of the Caledon River: in Lesotho the percentage vegetation cover is
markedly lower. Lesotho has one of the worst conditions of soil erosion
in Africa. Population pressures are high in rural Lesotho which has for
decades acted as a rural labor supply for the gold mines of South
Africa, 250 miles to the north.

**STS058-75-085: Cape Town, South Africa**

The hook of land on the SW tip of Africa is known as the Cape Peninsula.
Cape Town, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, sits at the
foot of Table Mountain, a flat topped mountain 3550 feet high. Cape Town
lies at the north end of the Cape Peninsula. Cape Town docks can be seen
in Table Bay. The large bay enclosed by the hook on the south side is
named False Bay, because, although it is close to city of Cape Town,
mariners sailing from the East to Europe needed to sail an added
distance around Cape Point to reach Table Bay. The Peninsula was an
island in the recent geological past when the sea occupied the Cape
Flats between the peninsula and the mainland mountains (right). Robben
Island, the island where Nelson Mandela was jailed for many years, can
be seen from the slopes of Table Mountain and lies outside the picture
to the north.

**STS058-77-083: South Coast, Cape Province, South Africa **

Assuming this photo is viewed with the Earth\'s limb top left, clouds at
bottom, the view direction is west and north top right. In this dramatic
scene of the south coast of Africa, Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point
on the continent, appears as the leftmost cape. The Cape of Good Hope,
with Cape Town nearby, is the thin spike beyond. The great bay in the
foreground is Algoa Bay with the city of Port Elizabeth, home of the
South African Ford Motor Company, on its west side. In 1488, Bartholomew
Diaz, the Portuguese explorer landed at Mossel Bay, between Cape Agulhas
and Port Elizabeth. This was the first time European voyagers are known
to have rounded the Cape of Good Hope in their quest to reach India by
sea.

The entire fold mountain belt of southern Africa is visible: these
mountains appear as green (forested) wavy structures stretching west
from the foreground to the Cape of Good Hope, and then northwards some
distance. One theory about the origin of the Cape Mountains is that the
Falkland Plateau, now an undersea extension of South America, was
jostled up against Africa more than 150 million years ago, in times
before Africa and South America drifted apart from one another, before
the Atlantic Ocean existed. The jostling caused the evolution of the
fold mountain belt.

**STS058-78-066: Northeastern Egypt**

This oblique view, looking east, shows great expanses of the sandcovered
and rocky Western Desert in the foreground (bottom) with the Nile Delta
and Sinai Peninsula in the background. The dark patches center and right
are the Qattara Depression and Siwa Oasis.

German and Allied forces jockeyed for territory back and forth along
this coast (center) during World War II, as Rommel tried on several
occasions to break through from Libya to the heavily populated Nile
Delta and Suez Canal. The battle site of El Alamein is at the narrow
point along the coast where the Qattara Depression reaches closest to
the coast. This was the narrow waist where Montgomery decided to try
turning the tide of war.

**STS058-80-031: Wichita Falls, Texas**

Many cities in the flatter country between the Rockies and the
Appalachians have been poorly photographed in the Shuttle program. This
is one of the two the best views of Wichita Falls.

**STS058-89-016: Fort Smith, Arkansas **

Many cities in the flatter country between the Rockies and the
Appalachians have been poorly photographed in the Shuttle program. This
is the best view of Fort Smith.

**STS058-91-068: Little Rock, Arkansas**

Many cities in the flatter country between the Rockies and the
Appalachians mid-west have been poorly photographed in the Shuttle
program. This is the best view of Little Rock. The larger river across
the top of this SW-looking view is the Mississippi River.

**STS058-91-084: Lexington, Kentucky**

Many cities in the flatter country between the Rockies and the
Appalachians have been poorly photographed in the Shuttle program. This
is the best view of Lexington.

**STS058-93-033: Confluence of the Paran‡ and Paraguay Rivers**

The view direction (SSW) is towards the right side of the picture. Seen
in this way (right margin as top), the second largest river in South
America, the Paran‡, enters from the bottom of the view. Its major
tributary, the Paraguay River, enters from the right of the view. Water
of the combined rivers flows southwards (left) hundreds of miles down to
Buenos Aires, and acts as a major transportation artery for countries in
this part of South America. The rivers act as the political boundaries
between Paraguay (bottom right) and Argentina (top and left). The twin
Argentine cities of Resistencia and Corrientes lie on opposite banks of
the Paran‡ River immediately below the confluence, although they cannot
be seen in this \"sunglint\" photograph.

Lines of lakes in southern Paraguay represent ancient, disused tracts
once occupied by the Paran‡ River. The abandoned tracts indicate that
the confluence of the river has in the past shifted well north (right)
of its present position. These lakes are usually difficult to discern
except where the sun is reflected off the water surface.

Lines of reflecting lakes (top) represent yet other ancient river
courses. Multiple abandoned courses of the Pilcomayo River can be seen
across the top of the view. The present confluence of the Pilcomayo with
the Paraguay can be seen near the right edge of the view. The Pilcomayo
drains parts of the Andes Mountains hundreds of miles to the west (out
of the top of the view).