(43°N 142°E) Hokkaido: lattice structure
One of the more unusual features of Hokkaido, as seen from space, is a lattice-shaped windbreak forest found in the Konsen Plateau. This pattern is created by trees (primarily larch) planted in a lattice structure to protect farmland and livestock from bitterly cold, blowing winds. There is about 3 km (1.9 mi) between the lattices,
Island of California
The land of California existed as a myth among European explorers before it was discovered. The name “California” derives from a novel written by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo in the 16th century titled, “Las Sergas del muy esforzado caballero Esplandian, hijo del excelente rey Amandis de Gaula.” It was the fifth book in a series of
Mississippi River System
Learning about the Earth with Copernicus Space missions. The Mississippi river system is one of most complex water bodies system all around the World. The main river is around 3700 km long, its flow is feed by tenths of tributaries and its path cross a large number of states over the entire US territory. Thanks
Cebile storm over the Indian Ocean
During the last days in the remotest parts of the Indian Ocean a tropical cyclone was formed. Its name is Cebile and he reached the category strength 4. The storm was luckily formed far away from Madagascar, Sri Lanka and other inhabited islands, thus avoiding many damages and casualties. The cyclone has been captured by
Medicanes Numa
Medicanes, short for “Mediterranean” + “hurricanes”, are cyclones over the Mediterranean Sea having a tropical-like structure but a rather small size. They are relatively rare in Europe. They can be very destructive and deadly, even when they don’t reach their full potential for due to the combination of intense winds and heavy precipitation. However, one
Rainbow Mountains
On Earth there are a lot of natural wonders, some of them discovered only in the last decades and so become famous around the world only in recent times. This is the case of the colored mountains, aka rainbow mountains or montaña de siete colores. Those mountains offer a suggestive look thanks to the variegate
Volcanoes seen by Sentinel-2
On Earth, 500-600 Volcanoes exist. A volcano is a relief of the terrestrial crust (submarine or air) formed by the ejection and stacking material from the rise of magma in the form of lava ash. Volcanic activity can take several forms; each of them depends on the quantity of gases present in the magma and
The Eye of Sahara
In Mauritania, hidden deep into the great Sahara desert, there is a huge and mysterious geologic formation that is hard to spot from ground level, walking around on Earth. It turns out that we really discovered this incredible bull’s-eye in the sand only when we began sending humans into space when the Gemini IV mission (1965), a
Burning Vesuvius
In the last hours Mount Vesuvius is under siege by several fires that are surrounding the mountain’s slopes, spreading for around 2 kilometers and forcing the evacuation of locals from their home (there are indeed several small towns built near the sleeping volcano). A giant smoke trail raised towards the sky and then propagated for
Firebreaks over Portugal
Last Saturday Portugal has faced one of the biggest wildfire in its history. Hundreds of firefighters and more than 150 vehicles have been dispatched in order to counteract the flames spreading, fires that even after 24 hours were still churning across the forested hillsides of central Portugal, causing around 62 casualties. The largest part of