Sochi, Russia Winter Olympic Sites from above...[ 3692 ]
Sochi, Russia Winter Olympic Sites (Mountain Cluster) .
The
2014 Winter Olympic ski runs may be rated double black diamond, but
they're not quite as steep as they appear in this image of the skiing
and snowboarding sites for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, acquired on
Jan. 4, 2014, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. . Rosa Khutar
ski resort near Sochi, Russia, is in the valley at center, and the runs
are visible on the shadowed slopes on the left-hand side of the valley.
Height has been exaggerated 1.5 times to bring out topographic details.
The games, which begin on Feb. 7 and continue for 17 days, feature six
new skiing and boarding events plus the return of the legendary Jamaican
bobsled team to the winter games for the first time since 2002. . In this southwest-looking image, red indicates vegetation, white is
snow, and the resort site appears in gray. The area imaged is about 11
miles (18 kilometers) across in the foreground and 20 miles (32
kilometers) from front to back. The image was created from the ASTER
visible and near-infrared bands, draped over ASTER-derived digital
elevation data. . With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared
wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters
(about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the
changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing
instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on Terra. The instrument was built
by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan
science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the
instrument and data products. The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER
provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information
for surface mapping and monitoring of 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; wetlands
evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation;
surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface
heat balance. . The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, D.C. ; . More information about ASTER is available
at asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
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