Landsat: Earth as Art Receives Honor

Nicknamed "Dragon Lake," this body of water is formed by the Bratskove Reservoir, built along the Angara River in southern Siberia, near the city of Bratsk. This image was acquired in winter, when the lake is frozen.

On Thursday, September 25, "Landsat: Earth as Art" was honored with the 2003 USGS Shoemaker Award for Communication Product Excellence. The Shoemaker Award recognizes projects that convey scientific concepts with words and images that have a broad public appeal. The Shoemaker award is the USGS' most prestigious communications recognition.

The Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics contractor employees, Jeannie Allen, Laura Rocchio and M.K. Richardson received the award for their exemplary efforts on this program. Allen and Rocchio are employees of Science Systems and Applications. Inc.; Richardson is an employee of Decision Systems Technologies, Inc.

	The so-called Richat Structure is a geological formation in the Maur Adrar Desert in the African country of Mauritania. Although it resembles an impact crater, the Richat Structure formed when a volcanic dome hardened and gradually eroded, exposing the onion-like layers of rock.

The Earth as Art exhibit features 41 Landsat 7 scenes from around the world. These images illustrate the abstract beauty of Earth's surface as seen from space, and are thereby intended to introduce a larger audience to Landsat 7 data. A team from the Landsat analysis group at the USGS EROS Data Center conceived the project idea. USGS EDC and NASA/GSFC have worked together to bring these images to the public. Both USGS and NASA Earth as Art websites have been established, and the exhibit itself has been featured at the U. S. Senate; the Children's Science Center in Rapid City, SD; the Library of Congress; the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, NM; NASA Headquarters; and Goddard's Visitors Center. In the near future, the exhibit will be shown at the

This is a satellite image of the sands and seaweed in the Bahamas. The image was taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) instrument aboard the Landsat 7 satellite. Tides and ocean currents in the Bahamas sculpted the sand and seaweed beds into these multicolored, fluted patterns.

University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln, Shepards College in West Virginia, and the New York State Museum in Albany, New York. A second set of Landsat images are is currently being compiled by EDC for a follow on Earth as Art exhibit.

The award is dedicated to Gene Shoemaker, a USGS scientist, in memory of his landmark contributions to the geology of the Earth, its Moon, and the Solar System, and his enthusiasm in educating the public and inspiring young students to enter the science field.

For more information about Earth as Art and Landsat, go to: http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov or http://landsat7.usgs.gov