It is up to 18 miles (29 kilometers) wide and one mile (1.6 km) deep, stretching 277 river miles (446 km). It is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world. Now, thanks to a joint American and Japanese science team, we have a new perspective on the Grand Canyon and many other topographic features of the planet.
Southwestern Alaska's Yukon Delta spreads out in a vast tundra plain, where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers meander toward the Bering Sea. Resembling a delicate pattern of branching and overlapping blood vessels, the delta's complex system of rivers and streams flow through circuitous channels toward the sea, passing and feeding a multitude of coastal ponds and lakes.
Smoke from agricultural fires likely combined with urban and industrial air pollution to form a giant cloud of haze thick enough to obscure the coastline from view. China's rapid economic growth carries a significant environmental price tag. The World Bank estimates China's cost of water and air pollution is about 5.8 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product.
Astronauts on the International Space Station used a digital camera to capture this dazzling photograph of the aurora australis, or southern lights, while passing over the Indian Ocean on Sept. 17.
Giant ribbon-like patterns of dust plumes blew off the west coast of Africa and out over the Atlantic Ocean in late September 2011. Some extend westward while others curve south in giant arcs.
In the wake of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, sediment choked the Hudson River in New York City in early September 2011. The river's unusual brown or reddish hue was likely driven by runoff occurring upstate.
A panoramic view of east-central Texas acquired by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) highlights a wide range of smoke plumes caused by wildfires burning throughout the state.
Russia's northernmost territory, Franz Josef Land, is an archipelago of 191 islands in the northeastern Barents Sea. On Aug. 17, clear skies allowed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on NASA's Terra satellite to acquire this striking view.
Several of the oldest cities of northwestern Europe are highlighted in this astronaut photograph acquired just after midnight on Aug. 10, 2011. While the landscape is dotted with light clusters from individual urban areas, the metropolitan areas of London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam appear much brighter because of their large light footprints.
A massive bloom of phytoplankton creates brilliant shades of blues and greens that explode across the Barents Sea”a rare Earth observation treat because the Barents Sea is obscured by cloud cover roughly 80 percent of the time during summer.
