Atlantic Gallery

Whole Earth (Blue Marble 2000)

Whole Earth. Composite satellite image of Earth centred on the Americas. This is Blue Marble 2000, one of the most detailed Earth images ever made. It was done to update the original "blue marble" images taken by Apollo astronauts. It is the result of the combination of data from three Earth-observing satellites. A GOES satellite took the overall Earth image, SeaWiFS gathered ocean colour data and the AVHRR instruments on POES satellites mapped the vegetation. Hurricane Linda, a huge spiral storm system, is at centre left. Relief features have been exaggerated by 50 times. The Moon (upper left) has been superimposed on the image, and is not to scale

© NASA/GSFC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Earth from space, satellite image

Earth from space. Satellite image showing North and South America as seen from 35, 000 kilometres above the Earth's surface. North is at top and the Moon is at upper right. Clouds (white) are seen, as are seas and oceans (blue). Land cover ranges from vegetation such as forests and grassy plains (green) to arid areas such as deserts, mountains, and scrublands (brown). This image combines data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite and NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)

© NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (NASA-GSFC)/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Tenerife, satellite image

Tenerife, satellite image. Satellite image of Tenerife showing Mount Teide (lower centre). Vegetation is green, and water is blue. Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of north Africa. Mount Teide is an active volcano and is the highest mountain in the Canary Islands and Spain. Mount Teide and is surroundings make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Teide National Park

© PLANETOBSERVER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY