Earth from Space - Image Description

STS073-759-031 Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S.A. October 1995
Discernible slightly east of the center of the photograph is historic Vicksburg. The city sits on a bluff several hundred feet above the broad floodplain of the Mississippi River, which has highly reflective sandbars visible in its main channel. A dramatic escarpment separates the darker, elevated, forested terrain from the lighter, flat, cultivated floodplain; however, several dark, wooded areas exist on the floodplain itself. Apparent on the floodplain are many looping, oxbow lakes and meander scars--an indication that the river transports large quantities of sediment and constantly changes its main channel.

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