A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Altai Mountains contains the most complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia. The region is home to the globally endangered snow leopard.
Some of the largest tides in the world are found in Bristol Bay. The region is also one of the most important salmon fishing locations in the world, where massive runs of sockeye are caught every year.
Death Valley, located in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California, is the lowest point in North America at 282' below sea level. Furnace Creek is among the hottest places on earth with a record reported high of 134 degrees F in 1913.
Otherwise known as the Straight of Gibralter, separates Gibralter, Spain and Tangier, Morocco through a narrow passage between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Wetlands buffer the Louisiana coast against storm surge from tropical storms but have been disappearing over previous decades, in part due to subsidence at the coastal margin
Lake Tahoe is located in the central Sierra Nevada Mountain Range within the states of California and Nevada and is the second deepest lake in the U.S. The Tahoe Basin was formed by normal faulting, a characteristic of the Basin and Range to the east. Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is located to the east of the lake.
The second largest city in Italy and the fith largest urban area in the E.U., the Milan area is home to more than 5 million people. Lake Cumo, nestled in the foot of the Alps is located to the north of the city.
The Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area is the second most populous metropolitan area in Brazil, the sixth most populous in the Americas and the eighteenth largest in the world. Nearly 6.5 million people live in the region. The city will play host to the 2016 Olympic Games.
Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is the worlds second largest metropolitcan area with over 25 million residents.
Anchorage, the state capitol of Alaska, is located on the upper reach of the Cook Inlet. To the west of the city is the large escarpment of the Chugach Mountains. Nearly half of the states population lives in Anchorage.
The second largest urban area in South America, Buenos Aries is the capitol city of Argentina and home to approximatly 3 million people.
This image captures several natural wonders found in California, including Mono Lake, the White Mountains, Mammoth, Yosemite Valley, and the Long Valley Caldera, a supervolcano which last errupted 760,000 years ago.
Natural color high resolution aerial photograph of Gig Harbor, Washington. Gig Harbor is loacted on the Puget Sound west of Tacoma.
The dramatic landscape of South Florida and Everglades National Park, with Miami located along the eastern boundary.
Las Vegas, Nevada, depicted here in natural color, has been one of the fastest growing urban areas in the United States, and has a populaiton in excess of 2 million people in the greater urban area.
The Nile River Delta is one of the most expansive river deltas in the world. Cairo, Egypt marks the beginning of the fan shapped delta which spreads out into a lush agricultural region.
Rome is the capital and largest city in Italy and fourth largest city in the E.U. at nearly 4 million people in thegreat metropolitan area. Vatican city is an independent country within the city boundary.
Surrounding one of the largest natural harbors in the world, Sydney is the largest city in Australia and Oceana with more than 4 million residents. The city extends to the west until it reaches the Blue Mountains.
Natural color satellite image of Grand Bahama island in the Carribean, southeast of Florida. Much of the west side of the island is within Westside National Park. Nasseau is the smaller island located northeast of Grand Bahama.
California's Central Valley is one of the most economically important agricultural regions in the world. Nearly 300 different crops are grown including a recent transition to high value commodities like almonds, and wine grapes. The region also faces intense urrbanization pressures in its numerous cities which run along the eastern side of the valley.
This landscape of dramatic contrast notably features linear, star and dome dunes as well as several arid granite massifs, some as high as 650 metres. The dunes emerge like islands from the sea of sand and harbour distinct and highly diverse plant and wildlife communities, including endemic freshwater fish species and the endemic Sonoran Pronghorn, which is only to be found in northwestern Sonora and in southwestern Arizona (USA).
False color infrared image captures the huge variety in landscapes surrounding the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Leaf-off image of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. The numerous folded belts were created by erosional processes over millions of years. The fertile valleys are extensively used for crop production.
Los Glaciares National Park is located in the Southwest of Santa Cruz Province in the Argentine part of Patagonia. Los Glaciares owes its name to the numerous glaciers covering roughly half of the World Heritage property. Many of these glaciers are fed by the massive South Patagonian Ice Field, the most extensive South American relict of the glaciological processes of the Quaternary Period.
This delta in north-west Botswana comprises permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains. It is one of the very few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is almost intact. The Okavango Delta is home to some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammal, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion.
The Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. It was created as an accident in the early 1900s as engineers were diverting water from the Colorado River. At the lake's deepest point it is 5 feet higher in elevation than Death Valley (230' below sea level).
Tianjin s a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in northern China.
The Baja Peninsula and Cabo San Lucas at "Lands End", nearly 800 miles from Mexicali and San Diego.
The Colorado River Delta terminates into the Sea of Cortez in this false color infrared image. Since water diverssions began on the Colorado to support irrigation, much of the wetlands this region once supported have vanished.
Flathead Lake and the snow-capped Canadian Rockies near Glacier National Park. The lake is part of the Rocky Mountain Trench, a glacial-cut valley which extends to the Yukon.
This natural color image shows a small portion of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The image highlites the swirling sediment paterns which emerge from currents as they pass through the area and collide with sediments flowing from land.
The state of Hawaii, captured in infrared, is merged with bathymetric survey data showing depth to the ocean floor.
The greater metropolitan area of Madrid is home to more than 6 million people and is the third most populated area within the European Union behind London and Paris.
Paris, France is the second largest metropolitan area in teh European Union with over 12 million residents. The surrounding country side is used mostly for production of a variety of crops, including sugarbeets, wheat, and grapes.
The capital of Chili, Santiago was founded in the mid-1500's. and sits at the base of the Andes in Chili's Central Valley. The greater metropolitan area is now home to more than 7 million people.
Natural color mosaic of Tokyo Prefecture, Japan. The Tokyo greater metropolitan area is the most populated in the world with more than 13 million people with population density is 16,000 people per square mile. Mt. Fuji is located in the southwest corner of the iamge.
The small town of Barrow, Alaska lies on Alaska's North Slope within the Arctic Circle and is the northern most town in the United States.. The color infrared image shows the tundra vegetation as bright red, with numerous seasonally thawed lakes intermixed.
Natural color high resolution image of wetlands along the northern coast of Cuba.
Natural color high resolution satellite image of Isla Isabela, Isla Fernandina, and Isla Santiago, all part of the Galapagos Island Chain.
Intensive land use along the Florida and Georgia border with center pivot irrigation, pine plantations, urbanization, all situated around the Silver Lake Wildlife Management Area
Where east meets west, Istanbul is the capital of Turkey with a metropolitan area supporting more than 14 million people, the largest urban area in Europe, as well as the largest in the Middle East. Formerly named Constantinople and once the capital of the Roman Empire, the city was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity.
Mag Bay is a large bay on the Pacific Coast of Baja Sur and is known as a stop over for the annual gray whale migration.
Deforestation in the Brazilian state of Rhondonia is seen here. Primary forest in the amazon is routinely cleared to support soybean and pasture production.
Natural color high resolution image of the greater Puget Sound area and Mount Ranier. The image shows the large urban expanse of the Seattle-Tacoma area, as well as the North Cascade Mountains.
The cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates located on the shore of the Persian Gulf are depicted here in false color infrared. Several recent new "coastal developments" in Dubai can be seen, including the "World Map".