Earth from Space - Image Description

STS056-080-092 Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers; Driftless Area, Wisconsin, U.S.A. April 1993
The Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa, and southeastern Minnesota is discernible in this northwest-looking, low-oblique photograph. Also referred to as the Western Upland, it is generally an agricultural region with residual, well-drained soil--a dissected (eroded) upland. The continental glacier that covered most of the surrounding regions did not touch the Driftless Area, which abounds in hilly, rugged terrain; caves; and sinkholes. Apparent are the Mississippi River Valley as far as south of Dubuque, Iowa (barely discernible near bottom center), and the Wisconsin River, which flows westward to the Mississippi River. Fog is discernible in the valleys of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers and in the smaller Kickapoo River Valley (near center).

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