David E. Steitz<br />Headquarters, Washington<br />(Phone: 202/358-1730) June 19, 2003<br /><br /><br />Alan Buis Howard Cohen <br />Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. NIMA, Bethesda, <br />Md.<br />(Phone: 818/354-0474) (Phone: 301/ 227-3105)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-204<br /><br /><br />SOUTH AMERICA SHINES IN NASA'S LATEST SPACE RADAR MAP <br />RELEASE<br /><br /><br /> Straddling the equator and engaged in a titanic clash <br />of great tectonic plates, South America is home to some of <br />the world's most scenic landscapes. Yet this same proximity <br />to the equator, with its frequent tropical cloud cover, has <br />also made it difficult to obtain traditional satellite <br />imagery of this vast land. <br /><br /><br />Thanks to cloud-penetrating radar flown on NASA's Shuttle <br />Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Feb. 11 - 22, 2000, more <br />than 340 million residents of the fourth largest continent <br />have access to the same level of high-resolution topographic <br />data North America and much of Europe have taken for <br />granted. A just released topographic data set sheds fresh <br />light on the diverse characteristics of South America and <br />paves the way for a wide variety of scientific <br />investigations and commercial applications. <br /><br /><br />"These data, and previously released data, continue to <br />demonstrate the extraordinary value space-based radar can <br />provide for better understanding and protecting our home <br />planet," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for <br />Earth Sciences, NASA Headquarters, Washington. "This <br />information has scientific and commercial value that will <br />help to improve life here, and provides new understanding of <br />how South America has evolved through time."<br /><br /><br />"These new data highlight the tremendous diversity of South <br />America's geology as never before," said Dr. Michael <br />Kobrick, SRTM project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion <br />Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. "The improved resolution <br />of this data set will make a tangible difference in the <br />lives of people throughout the continent in many ways. For <br />example, governments may be better able to prepare for <br />natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, <br />landslides and floods; aviation safety in mountainous <br />regions may be improved; and land use planners will be able <br />to make better decisions regarding the development of <br />critical infrastructure such as roads, reservoirs, aqueducts <br />and communications," Kobrick said.<br /><br /><br />At 17,819,000 square kilometers (6,879,954 square miles), <br />South America accounts for approximately 12 percent of <br />Earth's land mass. Its topography is dominated by the Andes <br />Mountains, which extend along the Pacific Coast. The Andes <br />were created primarily by the convergence of the Nazca and <br />South American tectonic plates. The Nazca Plate, which <br />underlies the eastern Pacific Ocean, slides under western <br />South America, resulting in crustal thickening, uplift and <br />volcanism. Another convergence zone is found along the <br />continent's northwestern coast, where the Caribbean Plate <br />also slides under the South American Plate, forming the <br />northeastern extension of the Andes.<br /><br /><br />East of the Andes, much of northern South America drains <br />into the Amazon River, the world's largest river in terms of <br />both watershed area and flow volume. Topographic relief is <br />very low in much of the Amazon Basin, but the new data <br />provide a detailed look at the basin's 3-Dimensional <br />drainage pattern. North of the Amazon, the Guiana Highlands <br />stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding lowlands. South <br />of the Amazon, the Brazilian Highlands show a mix of <br />landforms. Fractures paralleling the east coast are likely <br />related to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean as South <br />America drifted away from Africa, starting about 130 million <br />years ago. <br /><br /><br />Two visualization methods were combined to produce the main <br />South America image: shading and color coding of topographic <br />height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic <br />slope in the northwest-southeast direction, so northwest <br />slopes appear bright and southeast slopes appear dark. <br />Color-coding depicts the lowest elevations in green, rising <br />through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.<br /><br /><br />The SRTM made 3-D measurements of more than 80 percent of <br />Earth's landmass, located between 60 degrees north and 56 <br />degrees south of the equator. The mission is a cooperative <br />project of NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency of <br />the U.S. Department of Defense, the German and Italian space <br />agencies. The mission continues to fulfill NASA's mission to <br />understand and protect our home planet. <br /><br /><br />Selected images created from the data set are available on <br />the JPL Planetary Photojournal: <br /><br /><br />http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03388 <br />http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03389 <br />http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03390<br /> <br />Information about SRTM is available on the Internet at: <br />http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/<br /><br /><br />Information about NASA is available on the Internet at: <br />http://www.nasa.gov