Earth from Space - Image Description

STS058-083-023 San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.A. October 1993
Several natural features are captured in this synoptic photograph of the San Francisco Bay Area--the Montara Mountains and Cahill Ridge that abut the San Andreas Fault, upon which lie San Andreas Lake and elongated Crystal Springs Reservoir; several ridges east of Oakland and Hayward; and Alcatraz Island and Treasure Island, north and north-northeast, respectively, of downtown San Francisco. Discernible are three major bridges (San Mateo, San Francisco-Oakland Bay, and Golden Gate) that connect the cities surrounding San Francisco Bay; the intersecting runways of San Francisco International Airport along the west side of the bay; and dark, elongated Golden Gate Park south of the Golden Gate Bridge. Lining the southern end of the bay are multicolored salt ponds where salt is extracted from sea water. Wispy clouds obscure some of the details in the Richmond area to the northeast.

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