Return to Earth From Space Home
Earth from Space logo Image Information Earth from Space logo

Display a Screen Layout for Printing

IMAGE: gray corner       IMAGE: gray corner
  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS030-E-188071 Date: Mar. 2012
Geographic Region: CHINA
Feature: SHANGHAI AT NIGHT, SUZHOU AT NIGHT, YANGTZE RIVER AT NIGHT

Ordering information for space photography
 
IMAGE: gray corner     IMAGE: gray corner

Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner
  View Low-Resolution Image  
  Shanghai At Night: A Growing City

The city of Shanghai sits along the delta banks of the Yangtze River along the eastern coast of China. The city proper is the world's most populous city (the 2010 census counts 23 million people, including "unregistered" residents). With that many humans, the city is a tremendous sight at night. Shanghai is a key financial capital for China and the Asian Pacific region. The bright lights of the city center and the distinctive new skyscrapers that form the skyline along the Pudong district (the eastern shore of the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze that cuts through the center of Shanghai) make for spectacular night viewing both on the ground and from space.

Many of China's cities have grown at tremendous rates, but significant development has occurred in the Shanghai region over the past 10 years. The official census count in 2000 was 16.4 million; the city population has increased more than 35% since that time. Much of the growth has occurred in new satellite developments like areas to the west of the city (for example, Suzhou).

Shanghai's history is also colorful. The area started as an agricultural community more than 1000 years ago. A trading and merchant economy developed, growing into a trading port and exporting cotton, silk, and fertilizer during the 1700s and early 1800s. Shanghai also figured prominently in the First Opium War; and became a British treaty port after the Nanjing Treaty (1842).

The city's rapid growth and development during the 20th and 21st centuries have come at a cost. Water availability is a key concern, and groundwater withdrawal has resulted in substantial subsidence in and around the city. Because it is built only a few meters above sea level - on the banks of the deltaic estuary of the Yangtze River - curbing subsidence rates is a critical concern.
 
Image: gray corner     Image: gray corner

Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 224k
Mission: ISS030  
Roll - Frame: E - 188071
Geographical Name: CHINA  
Features: SHANGHAI AT NIGHT, SUZHOU AT NIGHT, YANGTZE RIVER AT NIGHT  
Center Lat x Lon: 31.2N x 120.9E
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N5
 
Camera Tilt: 39   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 85  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: W   The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West
Stereo?:   Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't
Orbit Number:  
 
Date: 20120327   YYYYMMDD
Time: 164115   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 31.7N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 123.7E  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 22   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 213   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: -53   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: COAST  
Water Views: DELTA, ESTUARY, RIVER, SEA  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views: PORT  
City Views: NANJING, SHANGHAI  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


NASA
Home Page
JSC
Home Page
JSC Digital
Image Collection
Earth Science &
Remote Sensing

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