This detailed view was taken with a long lens from more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away. It shows the narrow greenbelt forests that line the coast. Planted in Japan for at least the last four centuries, greenbelts protect coastlines from storms and sand movement; they are increasingly providing recreation areas as well. Greenbelts reduce tsunami wave energy, protecting houses and roads from floating debris. Such forests reduced the destructive effects of the 2011 tsunami at Sendai by “catching” seagoing vessels and preventing them from being washed inland.
Astronaut photograph ISS039-E-3841
was acquired on March 21, 2014, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using
an 800 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 the Expedition 39 crew. It 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 M. Justin Wilkinson, Jacobs at NASA-JSC.
- Instrument(s):
- ISS - Digital Camera - NASA
