Earth from Space - Image Description

Buenos Aires, River Plate, Argentina

This image was taken as astronauts aboard the International Space Station flew over the eye-catching delta and green swamps of the Parana River (image right) on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. The Parana River, South America's second largest after the Amazon River, pours brown muddy water into a wide estuary known as the River Plate (image center and left). The gray mass of Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires (metro population 12.74 million in 2010), is less prominent seen from space (upper left), although astronauts quickly attune their eyes to the subtle signature of such cityscapes. Numerous small farm plots on red soils surround the delta and city.

The muddy river sediment ultimately derives from erosion of the rocks of the Andes Mountains far upstream--mirroring the color of the Amazon River which is also turbid and also rises in the Andes Mountains. In this image tidal backwash transports the muddy water a short distance upstream into the smaller Uruguay River (image lower right).

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.