Earth Planets and Moons ID: 2874

Great Zoom into Don Juan Pond, Antarctica (treatment #2)

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on April 22, 2004

Antarctica is the coldest and most remote continent on Earth. It is also home to one of the most Mars-like places that scientists can study without actually traveling to the fourth planet. In this sequence we plunge from space down to a remarkably detailed view of a unique part of the Dry Valleys. By studying this place researchers think they might gain insight into how life on Mars might either survive now or have developed in the past. It is called the Don Juan Pond, and it's one of the saltiest, coldest bodies of water on Earth.

The zoom passes through four different resolution data sets including data from Terra, Landsat, and IKONOS. This treatment uses an IKONOS inset that's enhanced to show detail.

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Marte Newcombe (GST): Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Visualizer
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
James Garvin (NASA/HQ): Scientist
Michael Starobin (HTSI): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, Landsat 7 Project Science Office; MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov) The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory.