Sunday sandy satellite scenes

I discovered that DigitalGlobe have recently held their contest for the best satellite image and GeoEye have issued their 2012 calendar images. Both are stunning galleries of our planet’s surface, natural landscapes and manmade features, but my eye was, of course, taken by the diversity of sand’s role in many of them.

The GeoEye image above is of Qatar:

This image of South Qatar shows how the ebb and flow of the tide can create some unusual formations. Here, water and sand conjure up the shape and color of a tree as the tide swirls into the Persian Gulf. Qatar, an Arab Emirate in the Middle East, is one of the region's wealthiest states due to its vast oil and natural gas resources.

And here is their image of the Algerian Sahara:

 

The Eastern Algerian portion of the Sahara is an otherworldly place, a region of great diversity with endless stretches of sand dunes and rocky platforms that can reach more than 2,000 meters. The Tassili n'Ajjer "Plateau of the Rivers" National Park is a vast plateau in southeast Algeria at the borders of Libya, Niger, and Mali, covering 72,000 square kilometers.

Then here is one of the finalists from DigitalGlobe, stunning channels of the  Betsiboka River as it flows into Bombetoka Bay, Madagascar:

 

Bombetoka Bay, Madagascar-May 2, 2011: This is a satellite image of Bombetoka Bay, a bay on the northwestern coast of Madagascar near the city of Mahajanga, where the Betsiboka River flows into the Mozambique Channel. (credit: DigitalGlobe)

And this image from New Zealand was DigitalGlobe’s winner:

 

Rakaia River, New Zealand-March 28, 2011: This is a natural color satellite image of the Rakaia River in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. (credit: DigitalGlobe) <www.digitalglobe.com DigitalGlobe

 

[P.S. Difficult though it is for me to believe, this is my 351st post!]

Comments

[F]

Happy 351!

I wonder what the Rakaia would look like without the artificially maintained termination.

[Richard Bready]

Congratulations, Michael. Fourteen more, and you will have completed your own International Geophysical Year.