Peru
![IMAGE: Peru](peru.jpg)
High-resolution
image (815 Kb)
Some of the
deepest canyons in the world cut west to the Pacific from the high
crest of the Andes Mountains in Peru. This dramatic image taken
from the International Space Station provides a birds-eye view down
the canyons of the Rio Camana and the Rio Ocona. The low early morning
sun highlights the extreme topography created by rapidly uplifting
mountains and powerful water erosion by water dropping nearly 10,000
feet (more than 3000 m) in this view. At the edge of the image is
the snowy flanks of Nevado Coropuna, the highest mountain in the
Cordillera Occidental (6613 meters).
The coastal
plane provides a small area for cultivating crops. The coastal region
near the city of Camana suffered extensive damage from a tsunami
in 2001 (see http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/peru01/web%20pages/peru01_camana.html
and http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=7785).
Other views
from space of this area can be viewed at the following links...
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=5162.
Astronaut photograph
ISS007-E-7388
was taken with an Electronic Still Camera equipped with 180mm lens
on June 14, 2003. The image is provided by the Earth Sciences and
Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA-JSC
Gateway to Astronaut Photography
of Earth.
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