Earth from Space - Image Description

STS066-082-017 Tsimlyansk Reservoir, Russia November 1994
The Don River, located in southwest Russia, has been dammed creating the Tsimlyansk Reservoir (dark feature center of image). The Don River through a series of canals connects the Caspian Sea (through the Volga River) to the Black Sea. Two distinct outlets from the reservoir are visible as winding, dark features (lower right) at the western end of the reservoir. The southerly water feature is a canal and the paralleling meandering stream channel is the original Don River channel. Practically all of the land in this image is used for farming (large angular field patterns) except the large peninsula (upper left) where sandy soils are not conducive for agriculture. Due to the late autumn data acquisition timeframe of this image, healthy green field crops (vegetation) that are usually depicted in various shades of red on color infrared film are not discernible on this image. Recent snowfall obscures some cultivated fields (white areas, upper right corner).

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