Earth As Art 1
Science Center Objects
The first Earth as Art collection, released in 2001, is made up of both land and cloud formations and even a giant geological formation. Landsat 7, which launched in 1999, was the artist for the original Earth As Art.
View the Earth As Art 1 Collection now!
Dasht-e Kevir
The Dasht-e Kevir, or Great Salt Desert, is the largest desert in Iran. It is a primarily uninhabited wasteland, composed of mud and salt marshes covered with crusts of salt that protect the meager moisture from completely evaporating.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 2.3 miles (3.6km)
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Mayn River
The Mayn River, seen here with what is thought to be a portion of the Anadyr River, flows through the far northeastern corner of Siberia.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 1.4 miles (2.2km)
- Download: JPG
Garden City, Kansas
Center pivot irrigation systems created these circular patterns in crop land near Garden City, Kansas. The red circles indicate irrigated crops of healthy vegetation. The light-colored circles represent harvested crops.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 2.2 miles (3.5km)
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Greenland Coast
Along Greenland’s western coast, a small field of glaciers surrounds Baffin Bay.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 0.8 miles(1.3km)
- Download: JPG
Bolivian Deforestation
Once a vast carpet of healthy vegetation, the Amazon rain forest is changing rapidly. This image of Bolivia shows dramatic deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Loggers have cut long paths into the forest, while ranchers have cleared large blocks for their herds. Fanning out from these clear-cut areas are settlements built in radial arrangements of fields and farms. Healthy
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Great Sandy Scars
In a small corner of the vast Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia, large sand dunes—the only sand in this desert of scrub and rock—appear as lines stretching from left to right. The light-colored fan shapes are scars from wildfires.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 1.6 miles (2.5km)
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Malaspina Glacier
The tongue of the Malaspina Glacier, the largest glacier in Alaska, fills most of this image. The Malaspina lies west of Yakutat Bay and covers 1,500 sq mi (3,880 sq km).
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 1.4 miles (2.3km)
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Namaqualand
Namaqualand in South Africa is known as the "gem of the Northern Cape." Portions of this area were turned into a national park in 1999, to preserve the abundant wildlife and brilliant wildflowers native to the area.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 1.9 miles (3.1km)
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The Optimist
On the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, sand dunes are encroaching onto once-fertile lands in the north. Healthy vegetation appears red in this image; in the center, notice the lone red dot. It is the result of a center-pivot irrigation system, evidence that at least one optimistic farmer continues to work the fields despite the approaching sand.
Lena Delta
The Lena River, some 2,800 miles(4,500km) long, is one of the largest rivers in the world. The Lena Delta Reserve is the most extensive protected wilderness area in Russia. It is an important refuge and breeding grounds for many species of Siberian wildlife.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 4.8 miles (7.7km)
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Broutona
These Karman vortices formed over the islands of Broutona, Chirpoy, and Brat Chirpoyev (Chirpoy’s Brother), all part of the Kuril Island chain found between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan.
Source: Landsat 7
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Aleutian Clouds
These cloud formations were seen over the western Aleutian Islands. Their color variations are probably due to differences in temperature and in the size of water droplets that make up the clouds.
- Collection: Earth as Art
- Source: Landsat 7
- Scale: 2.3 miles (3.7km)
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