February 15th, 2012 Category: Mountains

Mexico - January 3rd, 2012

This APM image shows a change from mountains to flat terrain by the border of Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala. Visible in the upper left quadrant is the Lacandon Jungle (Spanish: Selva Lacandona), an area of rainforest which stretches from Chiapas, Mexico into Guatemala and into the southern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. The heart of this rainforest is located in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas near the border with Guatemala in the Montañas del Oriente region of the state.

The Lacandon has approximately 1.9 million hectares stretching from southeast Chiapas into northern Guatemala and into the southern Yucatán Peninsula. The Chiapas portion is located on the Montañas del Oriente (Eastern Mountains) centered on a series of canyonlike valleys called the Cañadas, between smaller mountain ridges oriented from northwest to southeast. It is bordered by the Guatemalan border on two sides with Comitán de Domínguez to the southwest and the city of Palenque to north.

The dark red spot near the right edge of the image is the Laguna Lachuá, a Karstic lake in Guatemala. It is located in the middle of a national park covered with tropical rain forest, northwest of Cobán, near the border between the departments of Alta Verapaz and El Quiché. The lake is near circular in shape and is probably a cenote or doline. The Peyan river forms the principal water inflow and the Lachua river its main outflow.

Tags: APM Cañadas Chiapas Guatemala Lacandon Jungle Laguna Lachuá Mexico Montañas del Oriente Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve | | Leave a comment

February 15th, 2012 Category: Rivers, Sediments

Argentina - February 6th, 2012

Sediments from the Naposta Stream flow past the city of Bahía Blanca and Isla Trinidad, in the southern part of the Province of Buenos Aires, and into the Atlantic Ocean. Moving south down the coastline in the full image, the twin cities of Viedma and Carmen de Patagones can be observed on opposite sides of the Río Negro River.

Continuing further south, one comes to the Valdés Peninsula, an important nature reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site of about 3,625 km2 (896,000 acres; 1,400 sq mi) in size. Most of the peninsula is barren land with some salt lakes. The largest of these lakes is at an elevation of about 40 m below sea level. The coastline is inhabited by marine mammals, like sea lions, elephant seals and fur seals.

.

Tags: Argentina Bahia Blanca Carmen de Patagones Isla Trinidad Naposta Stream Valdés Peninsula Viedma | | Leave a comment

February 15th, 2012 Category: Image of the day, Lakes

Uganda- February 3rd, 2012

This orthorectified wide-swath ASAR image focuses on Lake Victoria, an African Great Lake and the continent’s largest lake by surface area, at 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 sq mi). It is the second largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world. In terms of its volume, Lake Victoria is the world’s eighth largest continental lake, and it contains about 2,750 cubic kilometers (2.2 billion acre-feet) of water.

Visible as a white area near the northern shores is Kampala, the largest city and capital of Uganda. Kampala features a tropical wet and dry climate, however due to city’s higher altitudes, average temperatures are noticeably cooler than what is typically seen in other cities with this type of climate. Another facet of Kampala’s weather is that it features two distinct wet seasons. There is a lengthy rainy season from August through December and another shorter rainy season that begins in February and lasts through June.

Tags: Kampala Lake Victoria Uganda Wide-swath ASAR | | Leave a comment