Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
Photo: Courtesy of NASA
By Tom Davie and Chris Ingham Brooke
“It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but art can teach us to reproduce it - just as the world reproduces itself in the course of its eternal gyrations.” Albert Camus
Indeed, the world reproduces itself not only in the course of several gyrations, but at several different heights. At ground level, one can only imagine the sheer beauty of mountain ranges, deserts and deltas seen high up from NASA’s satellites. One can imagine - yes - however, they wouldn’t be quite prepared for the fact that from 400 miles away, the earth transforms into abstract art. The global landscape is impressionist, cubist and pointillist. Mother Nature is an abstract artist. The images you see below were taken at the turn of the Millennium, when NASA’s scientists had a brilliant idea: to scan through 400,000 images taken by the Landsat 7 satellite and display only the most the most beautiful. A handful of the best were painstakingly chosen and then displayed at the Library of Congress in 2000. We thought that it, in case you missed the exhibition, it would be amazing to dig up these images and provide some wallpapers for you to download.
Guinea-Bissau
The rivers of this small country in West Africa, once known for its main economic activity – the slave trade – wash into the Atlantic Ocean, creating complex patterns of swirling silt below the surface of the shallow water.
Garden City, Kansas, USA
Home to the largest zoological facility in Kansas, Garden City is known for its depiction in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.The croplands surrounding the city are irrigated by a vast underground aquifer, creating bands of bright red healthy vegetation that dot the image.
Akpatok Island, Canada
One of Canada’s most amazing arctic islands, it is ringed with steep limestone cliffs that rise high above sea level and its central plateau. Unsurprisingly, it is only accessible only by air, which is pretty ideal for its cliff nesting seabirds called Akpatoks (or Thick-billed Murres as we know them).
Aleutian Clouds, North America
The Aleutian islands are an archipelago of over three hundred islands. They lie on the westernmost point of the united states on the pacific ring of fire. Once belonging to Russia, they were purchased along with Alaska by the Americans. The color differences you see in this photo are probably due to the different temperatures of the water droplets.
Mayn River, Siberia, Russia
The magnificent contours of the Mayn pass through the sparsely populated forest-tundra subzones of Chukotka, a region teeming with moss, lichen, dwarf shrubs, and sedge. Little else can survive in such harsh climes and the river itself is frozen for nine months of the year.
Bolivian Deforestation
This image of the once vast carpet of rainforest in the Amazon basin is reminiscent of the cubist masters. Fanning out from the large blocks of land cleared by ranchers and loggers radiate arrangements of fields and farms, the remaining healthy vegetation appearing in bright red.
Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco
The image above is of the Anti-Atlas mountains, a 500km mountain range that forms part of the Atlas mountains. Located in Southern Morocco, the contrasts are absolutely astonishing: high peaks and river basins cover the area. There are a few Berber tribesmen living in the area. However, settlements are rare in this mountain realm, ruled by nature.
Ocean Sands, Bahamas
From afar, this could look like an abstract painting, however this spectacular satellite image is of the dunes of sand and seaweed, sculpted by the ocean currents. The fluted, underwater dunes are formed in much the same way as sand dunes in deserts.
Lake Carnegie, Australia
During periods of sustained rainfall the lake fills with water, however for most of the year it exists as muddy marshland that, from the air, resembles the lyrical swirls of artists such as Jackson Pollock.
Chilean Volcanoes
This great swathe of now dormant volcanoes lies on the border between Chile and the Catamarca province of Argentina and has glazed the surrounding area in a thick crust of magma roughly 2 miles (3.5 km) deep. The incredible palette of shades indicates both the age and mineral content of past lava flows.
Coahuila, Mexico
The desolate plains of Coahuila are flanked by the Sierra Madre Mountains and make up part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Much of the province is arid and consists of basins broken by small mountain ranges and spectacular fissures in the earth.
The Everglades, Florida, USA
These subtropical wetlands located at the southern tip of Florida are home to a breathtaking range of plants and wildlife, from the mangrove and cypress, to the wood stork and spoonbill. The lush scenery – formed over centuries by water, rock and fire – is constantly changing and is the only place in the world where crocodiles and alligators live side by side.
Ganges River Delta, (Bangladesh & India)
After flowing past the ancient city of Kolkata the sacred Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal amidst the labyrinth of swamps and waterways that make up its expansive delta. In the surrounding forest live an array of rare and wonderful animals including the Bengal tiger and Indian python.
Ghadamis River, Libya
The oasis town of Ghadamis lies on the ancient Saharan caravan routes and is overlooked by the Tinrhet Hamada mountains. Through the town flows the seasonal river or wadi after which it is named. Although known during Roman times as an important watering point, here it appears only as a dry scar on the arid landscape.
Baffin Bay, Greenland
A field of glaciers and enormous icebergs surround the freezing waters of Baffin Bay, bounded to the south and west by the Inuit islands of Baffin and Ellesmere. The bay lies 300 m (1000 ft) above the level of the massive Greenlandic ice cap, depressed by its own weight, and is home to a large number of Beluga whales that survive on the multitudes of small fish and crustaceans in its waters.
Konari, Iran
Konari is a small town, which lies within the Iranian Zagros Mountains - they make up Iran and Iraq's largest mountain range and were formed by the collision of the Eurasian and Arabic plates.
Iraqi Military emplacement
Pillboxes and gun emplacements litter a former wetland, drained and now used as a staging area for military exercises just north of war-torn Basra. The settlement lay at the heart of the ancient Sumerian civilization and was the first city built after the emigration of Mohammad and his followers to the city of Medina in 622 A.D. – the year that marks the start of the Islamic calendar.
Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
The tallest peak in Africa at 5,895 m (19,340 ft), Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest place on earth covered by mobile phone network. Its slopes are home to unique vegetation such as the water holding cabbage and a variety of microclimates are found amongst its peaks, including a permanent snow-capped summit. The border with Kenya can be seen in the upper portion of the image above the spectacular peaks of the Kilimanjaro range which appear like anthills from such great height.
Dasht-e Kavir, Iran
The Dasht-e Kavir, or valley of desert, lies along the Iranian plateau and covers an area of over 77,000 km² (45,000 square miles). The extreme heat makes it impossible to cultivate the land and as a consequence, settlements are restricted to a few sparsely populated oases. What meager moisture lies beneath the surface of the mud is retained by a covering crust of salt that stops it from evaporating completely.
Lena River, Russia
The Lena River is the tenth longest river in the world and its delta is the largest area of protected wilderness in Russia. Desolate frozen tundra for most of the year, every May the region is transformed into a lush wetland that becomes home to several species of rare Siberian wildlife for several months. The striking blue expanse above the coral-like delta is the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean.
MacDonnell Mountains, Australia
Winding ridges show the spectacular MacDonnell mountain range of the Northern Territory, a 650 km (400 mile) long series of mountain ranges located in the centre of Australia. The ranges are composed of many rock types, but are most famous for their beautiful red quartzite peaks and gorges, visible in the upper right.
Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, USA
Several glaciers spill onto the Gulf of Alaska to form the gentle ripples of the Malaspina, an ice field so large it can only be seen in its entirety from space. Its tongue, here shown in sky blue, flows from the stunning Saint Elias Mountains towards the sea, filling the plain, although at no point does it actually reach the icy water.
The Optimist, Kalahari Desert, Namibia
The dunes of the Kalahari encroach onto the once-fertile lands to the north, leaving remarkable striations across the land. Note the lone red dot of healthy vegetation at the centre of the image: it is the result of a man made irrigation system, evidence that at least one optimistic farmer continues to work the fields despite the approaching sand.
Parana River, Brazil
The delta of South America’s second longest river is located only 20 miles from one of the world’s largest cities, Buenos Aires. Known as a foremost bird-watching destination, its intricate spiders web of waterways and canals form a vital link between the towns and cities of the region. The striking contrast between dense forest and wetland marsh is clearly visible in the image along the banks of the dazzling blue river.
Richat Structure, Mauritiana
Deep rings in the ground near the Saharan town of Oudane mark a geological formation that resembles a bull’s eye or whirlpool. Its dramatic grooves are only entirely visible from a great altitude and although appearing to be the result of an impact crater, were formed when a volcanic dome hardened, gradually eroding to expose beautiful onion-like layers of rock.
The Great Sandy Desert, Australia
Despite its name, the desert is an area largely devoid of sand, instead characterized by complex geological structures. Inhabited mainly by indigenous Australian communities, the glorious sheets of mottled color resemble Klimt’s famous paintings.
The Great Sandy Scars, Australia
A small corner of the vast Great Sandy Desert that does have large sand dunes – the only sand in this desert of scrub and rock – the dunes are here visible as lines stretching across the image. The light-coloured fan shapes are scars from wildfires.
Terkezi Oasis, Chad
A stunning outcrop of black rock covered in swathes of shifting sand – only 10,000 years ago grass covered the region, today however these rocks are as prominent a feature as can be found within the exquisite sand dunes of the southern Sahara..
Volga Delta, Russia
This extensive delta at the mouth of Volga is comprised of more than 500 channels and sustains the most productive fishing grounds in Eurasia. The delicate vein-like waterways flow into the dark expanses of the Caspian Sea, the largest body of enclosed water on the planet.
Karman Vortices
These magnificent swirling clouds are the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as the Karman vortex, a repeating pattern of spinning vortices caused by the unsteady separation of flow over bluff bodies. They appeared over AlexanderSelkirk Island in the southern Pacific Ocean – off the coast of Chile – rising voluptuously from the surrounding waters and creating a stunning spiral effect.
45 comments
Olmec Sinclair (not verified) says:
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 2am
Stunning. As with everything, a new perspective is gained with each new vantage point, every facet of reality is unique, existing as part of a infinite spectrum.
Jim Goldstein (not verified) says:
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 6pm
These are amazing. Glad to see these were rediscovered.
Nikolas Schiller (not verified) says:
Jul 3rd, 2008 at 6pm
Thanks for putting this page together. I sampled many of these satellite images four years ago when I first started to dabbled in geospatial art. You can view them on my "Maps of 2004" page if you'd like to see some derivative applications of these public domain satellite images. If your readers are interested in obtaining custom hyperspectral satellite imagery art check out ABOV.
Ren (not verified) says:
Jul 6th, 2008 at 7pm
this is ugly,. nothing to be seen, just some forms. colors appear to be "nice", whatever. it will not stop humans destroying it. nuclear mushrooms look nice too.
Cherie Hanson (not verified) says:
Jul 7th, 2008 at 6am
Wonderful images which lead us to understand the fragility and interconnectedness of life on the planet. Inspiring. And yes the images are definitely like non-representational, abstract art.
Cherie Hanson
Stijn van Drongelen (not verified) says:
Jul 7th, 2008 at 9am
They’re called “Von Kármán Vortices”.
Stimpy (not verified) says:
Jul 7th, 2008 at 9am
this is ugly,. nothing to be seen, just some forms. colors appear to be “nice”, whatever. it will not stop humans destroying it. nuclear mushrooms look nice too.
Your detached perspective is so sexy. Cowardly... but sexy nonetheless.
...[yawn]...
Otto S.R. Ongkosongo (not verified) says:
Jul 7th, 2008 at 10am
A very interesting contribution to the beauty of nature as examples of puzzles and misteries of Allah creation.
Thank you very much.
Prof. Otto S.R. Ongkosongo
Dilip (not verified) says:
Jul 8th, 2008 at 10pm
Clark, thanks for showing the World how wonderfully beautiful our planet is. This is surely artwork to the fullest. One simply gets inspired by looking at these photos. Keep up the good work.
rose (not verified) says:
Jul 9th, 2008 at 4pm
It is NOT the Bolivian Forest
It is the BRAZILIAN Forest
Marvin Droogsma (not verified) says:
Jul 11th, 2008 at 3pm
Beautiful! Thanks for hosting this!
srinivasan (not verified) says:
Jul 12th, 2008 at 10am
it is really amazing...i now know why God sits up there and not here!
Anyway, my (old) color TV sometimes produce such abstracts :-) but I cant download them and host it here...believe me...my TV unpredictably generate awesome abstracts now and then.....so I now learn to enjoy them too.
Michael (not verified) says:
Jul 13th, 2008 at 11pm
hmmm ...
these are gorgeous. anyone know if there are full sized (1920x1200) or larger images available? full sized, scaled would make incredible wallpapers.
-- michael
Sigurdur Fjalar Jonsson (not verified) says:
Jul 14th, 2008 at 9am
Reminds me somewhat of an assignment I did with my students in Iceland using Google Earth. Here are some samples my daughter made.
http://www.slideshare.net/sfjalar/artwork-earth/
regards,
S.Fjalar
Craig (not verified) says:
Jul 15th, 2008 at 12am
Hey
If you like this take a look at EarthBook: http://earthbook.craigrozynski.com
Craig
justin (not verified) says:
Jul 15th, 2008 at 8pm
And people say there is no God…
On which page were the pictures of heaven?
Nonplussed (not verified) says:
Jul 15th, 2008 at 8pm
And people say there is no God…
A very interesting contribution to the beauty of nature as examples of puzzles and misteries of Allah creation.
Leave it to Internet users to turn this into a discussion about god. Can't we just enjoy nature?
Gabrielle (not verified) says:
Jul 16th, 2008 at 5am
It's a shame the Everglades one is 404
Fred (not verified) says:
Jul 16th, 2008 at 5pm
It’s a shame the Everglades one is 404
(1) click the link (2) get the 404 (3) add a "g" to the end of the link (4) hit return (5) everglades
Anon. (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2008 at 12am
And I thought I'd been saving the best of these over the years. I think I only have about five. Thanks for sharing.
RJ (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2008 at 11am
This reminds me why I want to be a photographer doing nature shots. People offer beauty in restricted senses, but the beauty that is naturally created is unsurpassed... Some are not suited to my taste, as I'm not usually one for modern art - but the ones of sand dunes, cloud vortexes, and the Glacier in Alaska are amazingly reminiscent of other natural phenomena. It's like seeing a fish shape in a cloud in the sky... it takes imagination and an artistic eye to appreciate these. Nice to know so many intelligent people are commenting instead of the yahoos that usually post just to get a rise out of others by being rude... only a few... that and of course the ever-ignorant that have to be loud because they think they're right when they're not...
Baffin Bay is in Canada, not Greenland.
Actually, it's between them - and being international waters, can be claimed by neither country as their own. Proof? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baffin_Bay Look at the map, and read all about it. It's like Canada fighting for "rights" to the entire Niagra Falls...
Leave it to Internet users to turn this into a discussion about god. Can’t we just enjoy nature?
Grow up and get over yourself, you sound like my childish ex-boyfriend. Nobody was turning this into a "discussion" but you - they simply made "comments" as to their feelings when viewing these pictures as they were asked - you'd rather comment on their comments why? Because you have no artistic soul to view nature's beauty, only see darkness and force arguments where they're not needed? There's a special place for inhumane people like you... Go there.
cenovis (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2008 at 1pm
There’s a special place for inhumane people like you… Go there.
Wow, bitter much? Don't take out your hatred for your ex-boyfriend on some random internet user. He or she made a simple comment, but you felt the need to write an angry rant. Sounds like you're the one who needs to grow up.
Pierre Col - UbicMedia (not verified) says:
Jul 17th, 2008 at 2pm
This 30 pictures are really gorgeous. thanks !
StephKaye (not verified) says:
Jul 21st, 2008 at 4pm
And people say there is no God…
Beauty in nature is NOT proof of God. Look at how the rivers resemble blood vessels. The laws of nature and physics force all natural things to follow the same principles. There is no creativity there, just reason.
Xtian (not verified) says:
Jul 22nd, 2008 at 12am
Thank you - these are amazing and an interesting fresh addition to my desktop gallery.
Alex (not verified) says:
Jul 22nd, 2008 at 2am
And people say there is no God…Beauty in nature is NOT proof of God. Look at how the rivers resemble blood vessels. The laws of nature and physics force all natural things to follow the same principles. There is no creativity there, just reason.
Of course there isn't any proof of the existence of a God, but why is it we are enthralled by these natural patterns?
michel (not verified) says:
Jul 22nd, 2008 at 9pm
go to http://earthasart.gsfc.nasa.gov
amazing
whoneedscredit (not verified) says:
Jul 26th, 2008 at 6pm
And people say there is no God…A very interesting contribution to the beauty of nature as examples of puzzles and misteries of Allah creation.
Leave it to Internet users to turn this into a discussion about god. Can’t we just enjoy nature?
Yeah it's like when I watch a movie and they insist on giving me the name of the director and actors and stuff. Why can't I just enjoy a movie without thinking about who made it?
Ed Richardson (not verified) says:
Aug 14th, 2008 at 5am
I like the Aleutian Clouds. Interesting photography!
JC Crash (not verified) says:
Sep 18th, 2008 at 9am
Interesting how computers combined with unique light-wave photography (and maybe a touch of Photoshop) has produced not only an in depth scientific analysis of the earth, but an interesting thing us geeks can display on our desktops. Good stuff. I thought the Bolivian deforestation was extremely interesting. It is also interesting that it is named deforestation rather than farming, proving there are still multiple ways of approaching various realities. Are we bad for removing natural growth or good for attempting to support ourselves through various techniques of personal support, small plot farming? I dunno, do you?
Evert Schut (not verified) says:
Oct 5th, 2008 at 5pm
Earth is indeed amazing from above! Several artists (including myself) have embraces satellite images from Google earth and others as a new tool and source of inspiration. Check out my weblog with links to other artists around the world.
Tips Photo (not verified) says:
Feb 6th, 2009 at 9am
It is just amazing that these are all nature. I am speechless by the what can come out of nature and the landscape.
chandan banerjee (not verified) says:
Feb 13th, 2009 at 8am
sir we want more satelite imagery with lat,long ,for our stydes
??? (not verified) says:
Jun 5th, 2009 at 12pm
the Library of Congress unveiled an exhibit of photos taken by the Landsat-7 satellite. Culled from over 400,000 pictures, this small set of 41 pictures (more added in 2003) represented
sam (not verified) says:
Aug 31st, 2009 at 6pm
Great selection. Check out http://www.theabstractearth.co.uk/ for a range of similar satellite pictures, available as prints.
Tostig (not verified) says:
Dec 19th, 2009 at 8pm
Dear Sirs,
Thank you so much for publishing these photographs - they are quite wonderful.
Love your paper.
jacqueline (not verified) says:
absolutely breathtaking and my friend is speechless!