Earth As Art 3

Along the southeastern coast of Greenland, an intricate network of fjords funnels glacial ice to the Atlantic Ocean. During the summer melting season, newly calved icebergs join slabs of sea ice and older, weathered bergs in an offshore slurry that the southward-flowing East Greenland Current sometimes swirls into stunning shapes. Exposed rock of mountain peaks, tinted red

Hues of green and orange highlight the extreme ruggedness of the mountainous terrain in eastern Afghanistan, near its border with Pakistan. The dark green areas on the right side along rivers indicate agricultural areas. Snow-fed streams allow sufficient irrigation to transform relatively arid soils into productive fields.

Source: Landsat 7

Looking like a monstrous ogre with something gooey in its mouth, the Dardzha Peninsula in western Turkmenistan lies among the shallow coastal terraces of the Caspian Sea. Strong winds create huge sand dunes near the water, some of which are partly submerged. Further inland, the dunes transition to low sand plains.

Source: Landsat 7

Lines and shapes etched into the surface of Antarctica's Robinson Glacier hint at the slow but inevitable movements of this giant river of ice. Patterns of lines may be icefalls, where a glacier cascades over rock, or a series of crevasses, massive cracks that form as different parts of a glacier move at slightly different speeds. Robinson Glacier flows down to the

A veil of blowing snow nearly obscures Meighen Island (left) off the northern coast of Canada. Across the Sverdrup Channel lies the much larger Axel Heiberg Island, where glaciers (blue) huddle among mountain peaks (yellow) and flow into deep fjords. No evidence of human occupation has ever been found on Meighen Island.

• Collection: Earth as Art 3

Much of Oman is desert, but the Arabian Sea coast in the Dhofar region represents a startling difference in climate. This coastal region catches the monsoon rains, or khareef, during the summer months. Drenching rains fall primarily on the mountainous ridge that separates the lush, fertile areas along the coast from the arid interior, recharging streams, waterfalls, and

Truly a river of ice, Antarctica's relatively fast-moving Byrd Glacier courses through the Transantarctic Mountains at a rate of 0.8 kilometers (0.5 miles) per year. More than 180 kilometers (112 miles) long, the glacier flows down from the polar plateau (left) to the Ross Ice Shelf (right). Long, sweeping flow lines are crossed in places by much shorter lines, which are

This stretch of Iceland's northern coast resembles a tiger's head complete with stripes of orange, black, and white. The tiger's mouth is the great Eyjafjorour, a deep fjord that juts into the mainland between steep mountains. The name means "island fjord," derived from the tiny, tear-shaped Hrisey Island near its mouth. The ice-free port city of Akureyri lies near the

An intricate maze of small lakes and waterways define the Yukon Delta at the confluence of Alaska's Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers with the frigid Bering Sea. Wildlife abounds on the delta and offshore where sheets of sea ice form during the coldest months of the year.

• Collection: Earth as Art 2
• Source: ASTER
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What look like pale yellow paint streaks slashing through a mosaic of mottled colors are ridges of wind-blown sand that make up Erg Iguidi, an area of ever-shifting sand dunes extending from Algeria into Mauritania in northwestern Africa. Erg Iguidi is one of several Saharan ergs, or sand seas, where individual dunes often surpass 500 meters-nearly a third of a mile-in

Shimmering blues and greens accentuate the textures of the Sierra de Velasco Mountains of northern Argentina. The urban area (pinkish circle) near the lower left part of the mountain range is La Rioja, the capital of the province of La Rioja. Follow the foothills to the upper right, where the city of San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca lies near extensive vineyards and