The high plateau region (altiplano) of western Bolivia and southern Peru, averaging about 12,000 feet (3,650 meters) above sea level, and its associated basin are bordered by the Cordillera Oriental to the east and the Cordillera Occidental to the west.  The details in this southwest-looking photograph are typical of the nonvegetated, generally flat, arid surface of the altiplano in southwestern Bolivia.   The north-to-south drainage pattern shows flow into Lake Coipasa from the intermittently flowing Lauca River and its many tributaries.  Along the western third of the photograph is a very pronounced volcanic landscape comprising individual volcanoes and clusters of volcanoes.  The volcanic peaks range from 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) to more than 19,000 feet (5,800 meters).  Even though Lake Coipasa had water when this photograph was taken, it is frequently called Salar (dry lakebed) de Coipasa because of insufficient flow from the river.

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The seaport city of Alexandria, with a population of more than 3.5 million, is built primarily on a sandy strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis.  Although most of the city infrastructure is not visible, some of the large modern harbor facilities, including a breakwater structure, are discernible in the small bay.  The unusual tan water body southwest of the port facilities is possibly a holding pond for industrial effluents.  A narrow band of darker substance in the water current appears to be flowing toward the east, and farther offshore, an interesting light blue turbidity indicates water color boundaries along this part of the Mediterranean Sea.  A series of canals and roadways appears within the darker green of the fertile, intensively cultivated and irrigated Nile River Delta.  Circular field patterns southwest of the city indicate center-pivot irrigation in addition to irrigation from ditches and canals.  The smaller, highly reflective areas scattered among the irrigated farmland are villages and cities.

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This southwest-looking, high-oblique photograph shows the throat of the "Y" that has been formed in northern Ethiopia as the sides of the Great African Rift Valley move farther apart.  The east-west-trending Ahmar Mountains form the Rift Valley's southern boundary, and a significant north-south-trending escarpment (near the western edge of photograph) creates an elevation change of approximately 5,000 feet (1,525 meters).  The top ends of the "Y" extend into Djibouti to the east and Eritrea to the north.  The desert area between the two arms of the "Y" is the Denakil Desert, and the lowest part of this desert is the Denakil Depression.  The desert is an area of scorching heat and active volcanoes that belch smoke, sulfurous fumes, and hot springs that often present strangely colored waters because of the mineral content.  The Awash River, whose waters evaporate and never reach the sea, is the only relief in the harsh southwest part of the region.   Djibouti, most of which is obscured by cloud cover, and small Lake Assal with its whitish salt plain northwest of the lake, are visible in the southeast portion of the photograph.  Blue Lake Assal, reportedly the saltiest body of water in the world, is also the lowest point in Africa at 510 feet (155 meters) below sea level.

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This south-looking, low-oblique photograph captures the southernmost city in the continental United States, Key West, with the runways of the Key West Naval Air Station obvious near the center of the photograph.  The island of Key West is 4 miles (6 km.) long and 2 miles (3 km.) wide and located 60 miles (97 km.) southwest of the southern tip of Florida.  It is one of the Florida Keys, a chain of small coral and limestone islands and reefs that curves southwest for 150 miles (240 km.) from just south of Miami Beach to Key West.

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The Lake Eyre Basin is located in the arid interior of south-central Australia.  This basin is one of the largest areas of internal drainage in the world.   It consists of two distinct, but interrelated basins: the north basin and the south basin.  The much larger north basin consists of two very large, normally dry lakebeds (highly reflective white appearance.)  The eastern lobe is Madigan Bay, and the western lobe is Belt Bay.  The color change, especially in the Madigan Bay lobe, indicates that there was some water in this lobe at the time the photograph was taken. The much smaller white appendage extending southward from Belt Bay is Jackboot Bay.  The south basin of Lake Eyre is the somewhat elongated, darker feature near the southern edge of the view.  These playa lakes are normally dry and have a heavily entrusted surface of salt and sand, hence they are highly reflective.

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The pink color of Lake Natron results from the billions of iron oxide bacteria that inhabit it and not from its other denizens, large flocks of flamingos.   The lake is approximately 35 miles (56 km.) long and 15 miles (24 km.) wide.   Its northern end is on the Tanzania-Kenya border; the summit of the small volcano, 5130 feet (1560 meters) above sea level at the northern end of the lake, is in Kenya.   The north-south-trending lines on either side of Lake Natron define the Rift Valley, approximately 20 miles (32 km.) wide. 

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The desert scene in this photograph is located just west of one of the few strategic north-south trade routes through southwest Libya.  The extensive oasis of Ubari (northeast part of the photograph) is located just north of the darker, eroded, rocky desert.  The desert extends in a general northeast-southwest direction for approximately 45 miles (75 km.), from the discernible northern escarpment to the northern edge of the sandy Marzuq Desert.  A well-entrenched drainage pattern indicates flows toward the south and southeast.  The darker rock outcrops are slightly tilted sedimentary rocks sandwiched between the sandy Ubari and Marzuq deserts.   The vivid, dark green, circular features are center-pivot irrigated fields--usually 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) in diameter--where sufficient well water is available to practice farming.

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The five lakes in this low-oblique photograph comprise the northernmost extent of the inland delta of the Niger River in central Mali: distinctive Faguibine, angular and spear-shaped; Komango, immediately east of Lake Faguibine; elongated, north-south-oriented Tele; kidney-shaped Oro; and Fati.  Each lake has a channel connecting it with the more extensive inland delta.  Very little open water can be seen in any of the lakes.  This entire area is part of the southern Sahara Desert with rainfall amounts generally less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) annually.   A small section of the Niger River is visible at the southeastern corner of the photograph.

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This extraordinary photograph shows the summit and southeast portion of Hawaii's Mauna Loa Volcano, the largest mountain in the world in cubic content, and two of its most active volcanic craters--Mokuaweoweo Crater, the dark pit near the summit of Mauna Loa, and Kilauea Crater (large circular feature west of the steam pall) on the southeastern flank of Mauna Loa.  Mauna Loa is a massive shield volcano whose summit rises 13,680 feet (4,170 meters) above sea level.  The volcano's lava is extremely fluid because of its low content of silica and gases and its very high temperature.  During eruption, the lava can flow more than 20 miles (32 km.) before it cools and hardens (old flows visible in the photograph).  Spreading out in broad sheets as if it were melted tar, layers of  lava have accumulated over millions of years to form Mauna Loa's  profile.  A string of craters extends eastward along a rift zone, site of the current eruption (steam pall).  Steam is blowing southwest from the main crater lake, Puu Oo, now filled with lava, which travels down the mountainside to the ocean through lava tubes and enters the ocean (steam pall) along the eastern side of the newly built (l992) Kamoamoa Delta.  The dark lava flows, which covered roads and subdivisions during the eruptions between 1983 and 1990, are visible east of the steam palls.  The Olaa Rain Forest (dark green) can be seen north of the Kilauea crater, and agricultural land is visible along the eastern coast.

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The broad, fan-shaped delta of the Volga River and the largest inland body of water in the world, the Caspian Sea, are the centerpieces of this high-oblique, south-looking photograph.  The city of Astrakhan is visible as a grayish-blue smudge west of the river near the apex of the delta.  Though located in an arid area, the delta supports more than 250 species of birds, 60 species of mammals, and 80 species of plants.  Most of the patterned areas in the southern Ryn Desert north of the Caspian Sea are wells.  The Aral Sea is visible near the horizon east of the Caspian Sea.

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