Tuva, Central Asia
Photo ID P-47077
July 18, 1996
This spaceborne radar image shows part of the remote central
Asian region of Tuva, an autonomous republic of the Russian
Federation. Tuva is a mostly mountainous
region that lies between western Mongolia and southern Siberia.
This image shows the area just south of the republic's capital of
Kyzyl. Most of the red, pink and blue areas in the image are
agricultural fields of a large collective farming complex that
was developed
during the era of the Soviet Union. Traditional agricultural
activity in the region, still active in remote areas, revolves
around practices of nomadic livestock herding. White areas on the
image are north-facing hillsides, which develop denser forests
than south-facing slopes. The river in the upper right is one of
the two major branches of the Yenesey River. Tuva has received
some notoriety in recent years due to the intense
interest of the celebrated Caltech physicist Dr. Richard Feynman,
chronicled in the book "TUVA OR BUST" by Ralph Leighton.
The
image was acquired by Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space shuttle Endeavour
on October 1, 1994. The image is 56 kilometers by 74 kilometers
(35 miles by 46 miles) and is centered at 51.5 degrees north
latitude, 95.1 degrees east longitude. North is toward the upper
right. The colors are assigned to different radar fequencies and
polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band,
horizontally transmitted and received;
green is L-band, horizontally transmitted and vertically
received; and blue is C-band, horizontally transmitted and
vertically received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German,
Italian and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's
Mission to Planet Earth program.
![[TUVA]](TUVA.GIF)