Here's another chance to play geographical detective! These
images from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)
were captured by the instrument's nadir camera on November 19,
2001, and show a natural-color (left) and false-color (right) view of
a 157 kilometer x 210 kilometer area. The natural-color image is
composed of data from the camera's red, green, and blue bands.
In the false-color view, the green channel has been replaced with
data from the camera's near-infrared band. This emphasizes the
appearance of vegetation. North is toward the top.
Use any reference materials you like to answer the following 5 questions:
1. In the upper left-hand corner, the ocean waters exhibit a murky
appearance due to a large amount of sediment being discharged
from a river mouth. For whom is the river named and what office did
this person hold?
2. In the upper left-hand quadrant of these images, a small, bright
reddish-orange feature is apparent near the coast in both the natural
and false-color views. The cause of this reddish-orange feature is:
(A) The recurrence of a bloom of red algae.
(B) An abundance of naturally-occurring iron deposits.
(C) A modern art installation financed by a private consortium.
(D) Waste from a mineral manufacturing and refining process.
3. A distinctively-shaped, dark-colored reservoir with a sinewy river
at one end is located to the south of the aforementioned reddish-orange
feature. This reservoir is the main water supply for a nearby industrial and
urban region. When these images were acquired, the water level within
this reservoir was at about 45% of total capacity. Over the next six months,
did the water level in the reservoir rise or fall?
4. A small seaside town within the image area (situated just over halfway
down this length of coastline) was named to commemorate the year
when a group of global explorers first set foot in this locality. What is the
name of the town?
5. In the lower right-hand quadrant of these images, a large winding river
flows through an agricultural region. Endemic only to the upper reaches
of this and a few other nearby rivers is an endangered fish with a peculiar
anatomical characteristic. Name the fish.
Quiz Rules
E-mail your answers, name (initials are acceptable if you prefer),
and your hometown by Tuesday, October 29, to suggestions@mail-misr.jpl.nasa.gov .
Answers will be published on the MISR Quiz page in conjunction with
the next weekly image release. The names and home towns of respondents
who answer all questions correctly by the deadline will also be published in the
order responses were received. The first 3 people on this list who are not affiliated
with NASA, JPL, or MISR and who did not win a prize in the last quiz will be sent
a print of the image.
A new "Where on Earth...?" mystery appears as the MISR "image of the week"
approximately once every two months. A new image of the week is released every
Wednesday at noon Pacific time on the MISR home page, http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov.
The image also appears on the Earth Observatory, http://EarthObservatory.nasa.gov/,
and on the Atmospheric Sciences Data Center home page, http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/,
though usually with a several-hour delay.
MISR was built and is managed
by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth
Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center,Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute
of Technology.
