On February 22, 2017 an astronaut onboard the International Space Station took this photograph of California’s Oroville Dam. Oroville has been in the news since water reached critically high levels and a large hole appeared in an emergency spillway on February 7, 2017. Repair crews are currently at work removing debris from the spillway.
References & Resources
- NASA Earth Observatory (2017, February 13) Drought Turns to Deluge in California.
- The Mercury News (2017, February 13) Live Updates: Oroville Dam spillway is in danger of failing . Accessed March 3, 2017.
- The Mercury News (2017, March 3) ’Spoil sites‘ for Oroville Dam Spillway Debris, Hyatt Powerplant starting up soon. Accessed March 3, 2017.
- The Los Angeles Times (2017, March 3) Oroville Dam faces another risk: Earthquakes from rapid rise in water levels. Accessed March 3, 2017.
Astronaut photograph ISS050-E-52024 was acquired on February 22, 2017, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a 1200 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 50 crew . The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth . Caption by Pola Lem.
