The Red Sea golf resort in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, where PresidentClinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PalestinianAuthority President Yasser Arafat, stands out against the desertlandscape in this image acquired on August 25, 2000.
This image of the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula shows an areaabout 30 by 30 kilometers (19 by 19 miles) in the visible and nearinfrared wavelength region. Vegetation appears in red. The blue areas inthe water at the top and bottom of the image are coral reefs. Theairport is visible just to the north of the golf resort.
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999,on NASA's Terra satellite. ASTER is the only high resolution imaging sensor onTerra. The primary goal of the ASTER mission is to obtain high-resolution image data in 14 channels over the entire land surface, aswell as black and white stereo images. With revisit time of between 4and 16 days, ASTER will provide the capability for repeat coverage ofchanging areas on Earth's surface.
The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER willprovide scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information forsurface mapping, and monitoring dynamic conditions and temporal change.Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats,monitoring potentially active volcanoes, identifying crop stress,determining cloud morphology and physical properties, wetlandsEvaluation, thermal pollution monitoring, coral reef degradation,surface temperature mapping of soils and geology, and measuring surfaceheat balance.
References & Resources
Image courtesy NASA GSFC, MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
