Earth from Space - Image Description

STS078-758-046 Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, USA June 1996
The high quality of this color infrared image of the Pamlico River as it enters the western margin of the Pamlico Sound, graphically shows the usefulness of this type of film to record natural vegetation (green vegetation appears as reddish mauve). Even subtle changes in the reflective pattern within the cultivated fields (mostly angular shaped features) are discernible. The lighter colored areas (non-red colors) show fields that have recently been planted or represent fallowed fields. A series of puffy cumulus clouds, not to be confused with the lighter colored fields, dot the right side of the view. Compare this color infrared image with STS034-83-067, a picture taken with regular color film seven years earlier (1989). While the specific areal coverage for both images is almost identical, the color infrared film makes it easier to discriminate land-water interfaces; swampy, coastal areas; and the individual cultivated field patterns. The expansion of the phosphate mining operation along the south side of the Pamlico River (larger, angular-looking pattern slightly west of center with blue hues) shows significant changes, including features that appear to be spoil banks or mine tailings.

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