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  Image: Geographic Location Direction Photo #: ISS063-E-76217 Date: Aug. 2020
Geographic Region: USA-TEXAS
Feature: PADRE ISLAND, GULF OF MEXICO, DUNES

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  Sands and Mats at Padre Island

An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph of a portion of Padre Island, a long barrier island along the southern Texas coast.

Once an unbroken stretch of land, the island was separated into North and South Padre with the cutting of Mansfield Channel's first through private efforts in 1957, and then by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1962. The channel connected the fishing community of Port Mansfield to the Gulf of Mexico and established a new harbor between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

Jetties mark the entrance from the Gulf into the channel, dredge spoils from the excavation line the southern side. Those jetties disrupt the natural longshore transport of sediment along the coast, causing sand to erode on the north side and build up on the south side. For this reason, the beach appears wider and extends farther seaward on South Padre Island. Stretching north from the channel, Padre Island National Seashore protects nearly 80 miles (130 kilometers) of beaches for nature and recreation.

North and South Padre Islands are well known for attracting tourists and beachgoers, but they have also intrigued scientists. This photograph was taken in response to a request made by scientists to the NASA Crew Earth Observations team. Researchers are investigating changes in dune morphology and in the microorganisms that live on the surface of the island.

As is typical of many barrier islands, sand dunes line the coast of Padre, forming a natural barricade and mitigating inland damage from storms like hurricanes. Extensive microbial mats multi-layered sheets of microorganisms such as bacteria, take advantage of this natural protection and thrive in the protected tidal flats along the backshore of Padre Island. These areas of rich microbial life stand out as darker sections of beach in the photo. Microbial mats like these are among the oldest forms of life that have been identified within Earth's rock record. Many scientists believe that such mats are the best astrobiological analogues for how life might have existed on Mars.

 
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Images: All Available Images Low-Resolution 307k
Mission: ISS063  
Roll - Frame: E - 76217
Geographical Name: USA-TEXAS  
Features: PADRE ISLAND, GULF OF MEXICO, DUNES  
Center Lat x Lon: 26.5N x 97.3W
Film Exposure:   N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus
Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: 10
 
Camera: N8
 
Camera Tilt: 21   LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical
Camera Focal Length: 800  
 
Nadir to Photo Center Direction: SE   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: 20200820   YYYYMMDD
Time: 205224   GMT HHMMSS
Nadir Lat: 27.4N  
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Nadir Lon: 98.4W  
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft
Sun Azimuth: 251   Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point
Space Craft Altitude: 224   nautical miles
Sun Elevation: 55   Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point
Land Views: COAST, DUNE, ISLAND, ISLANDS  
Water Views: CHANNEL, GULF, SEDIMENT  
Atmosphere Views:  
Man Made Views: HARBOR, PORT  
City Views: BROWNSVILLE, CORPUS CHRISTI  
Photo is not associated with any sequences


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