Earth from Space - Image Description

STS068-214-067 Coastal Plains, Hokkaido Island, Japan October 1994
The coastal plains of east, southeast Hokkaido are visible in this generally west-looking view. The lighter colored, gridded (dark, intersecting lines) landscape, has been produced by a methodical land clearing operation, where terrain was once forested, now the land is being used for agricultural purposes. Notice that several drainage patterns can be traced across the light-colored fields. The drainage pattern shows up as dark meandering features because trees (vegetation) still outline the stream channels. A series of coastal wetlands including several estuaries and bordering swamplands (darker coastal regions) are visible. There is a large sand spit that extends eastward into the Nemuro Strait (bottom center). The darker landscapes inland are forested low-lying drainage basins or forested mountain slopes that are partially obscured by clouds (along the right edge).

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