Earth from Space - Image Description

STS090-750-062 Denver International Airport, Colorado, USA April 1998
The multiple runways of the Denver International Airport can be seen in the center of the image. The light colored, linear features that are located south and west of the airport are Interstate Highway 70 (east-west)and Interstate Highway 76 (northeast- southwest), respectively. Most of the rural land in the scene of the western High Plains shows a variety of cultivated field patterns of varying sizes, shapes (rectangular), and colors, where irrigation and dry land farming is practiced. The region receives an average 15 inches (38 cm) of precipitation per year, producing a semi arid climate. A few circular fields indicate that the center pivot irrigation technique is being used on a limited basis in the region. Barr Lake, a state park (dark feature northwest of the airport), is located on the Beebe Seep Canal. Immediately west of this feature, the gently curving floodplain of the South Platte River is barely visible as it heads northward. Most of the southwestern quadrant of the picture consists of urban development, as the cities of Denver and Aurora expand eastward. Cherry Creek Lake (dark feature with a smooth-looking shoreline southwest of the airport) is gradually being encircled by urban growth. This image is oriented with north at the bottom.

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