Satellite Images Show Floating Objects in Indian Ocean

Satellite images released by the Australian government show possible objects floating in the Indian Ocean that could be wreckage from Malaysian Airlines flight 370. The images are of the same object. One is panchromatic, meaning it is based on all wavelengths of light falling on each pixel. The other is multispectral, meaning it is based on specific wavelengths. (Source: Australian Maritime Safety Authority)

Could floating objects seen in satellite images of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia be wreckage from the missing Malaysian Airlines jet that disappeared on March 8?

The Australian government thought the satellite images above, and another pair lower down in this post, warranted a search by aircraft. But the first try has turned up nothing — because of limited visibility due to clouds and rain, as this Tweet from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority states:

RAAF P3 crew unable to locate debris. Cloud & rain limited visbility. Further aircraft to continue search for #MH370

— AMSA News (@AMSA_News) March 20, 2014

Here’s a map of the area in the Indian Ocean that was searched by the Australians today:

Source: Australian Maritime Safety Authority

And here’s what that area of the Indian Ocean looked like to NASA’s Aqua satellite today:

Extensive cloudiness obscures parts of the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, as seen in this image based on data from NASA’s Aqua satellite. (Source: NASA)

To my eye it appears that the area being searched is underneath that big patch of cloudiness seen this image. Let’s hope it clears.

Lastly, another pair of images showing another a second possible object:

Source: Australian Maritime Safety Authority

As more remote sensing and other kinds of imagery come in, I’ll post them here at ImaGeo. So stay tuned.

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Crimea as Seen in Satellite Images

A Google Earth image of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. (Source: Google Earth)

As I’m putting this post together, Ukraine has put its military on high alert, and Russian troops along with other forces have surrounded a number of Ukrainian military bases on the Crimean Peninsula — home to Russia’s Black Sea naval fleet.

Just a week after the end of the Sochi Olympics, the Russians have invaded Ukraine, and so there is now a risk of war in Europe. Hard to believe.

This isn’t a typical kind of topic for ImaGeo, but I thought I’d approach it by providing some remote sensing imagery of the region, and particularly Sevastopol, which has obvious military importance to the Russians, who have a long-term lease from Ukraine on their naval base there.

In the image above, you can see multiple ships docked in the harbor — many of them Russian naval vessels. How strong is the force there?

Here’s how Mark Galeotti, author of “Russian Security and Paramilitary Forces Since 1991,” and a professor at New York University, answered this question in a Q&A with the Washington Post:

Q. How strong is Russia’s Black Sea Fleet?

A. As a war-fighting force, it’s not particularly impressive. Its main vessel was basically built to fight other ships and so is only useful in fighting a naval war. It’s got the Moskva, an aging guided-missile cruiser; a large anti-submarine warfare cruiser — very dated; a destroyer and two frigates, which are more versatile; landing ships; and a diesel attack submarine. It’s not a particularly powerful force. The Italian navy alone could easily destroy it.

The port city of Sevastopol is seen here in a photograph taken on Expedition 20 of the International Space Station in 2009. (Source: NASA)

The city of Sevastopol spreads out along the deep indentation on the Black Sea coast seen in this photograph shot by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. From this perspective, its utility as a naval base seems pretty clear.

The entire Crimean Peninsula is seen in this image acquired by NASA’s Terra satellite on June 10, 2013. (Source: NASA)

This isn’t the first time that Crimea has been invaded by foreign forces. Far, far from it. It belonged to both the Greek and Roman empires many centuries ago. At that time it was known as Taurica.

And that’s just the start of it. As a good backgrounder in the Washington Post puts it:

These weren’t the only outside forces that dominated Crimea, and at other points in its past it has been invaded or ruled by Gothic tribes, the Kievan Rus’ state, the Byzantium empire and the Mongols, among many others. From the mid-1400s it existed as the Crimean Khanate, a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, during which time it became the center of a roaring slave trade.

The Crimean War left the peninsula in control of Russia in the mid-1800s. After the Russian Revolution, it became an autonomous region of the Soviet Union (with a very brief interlude as an autonomous state). The Nazis occupied the peninsula during WWII, and Sevastopol was nearly destroyed during fighting there.

The Red Army pushed the Nazis out in 1944 — and the Soviets proceeded to deport the region’s Tartars to Central Asia. Many died along the way. The Tartars were allowed to return after the fall of the Soviet Union. Not surprisingly, there is no love lost between them and the ethnic Russians on the peninsula, who make up more than 50 percent of the population now.

A Google Earth view of Crimea’s broad geographical context. (Source: Google Earth)

Lastly, this broad view gives a sense of Crimea’s strategic importance. For the Russians, the base at Sevastopol is one of just three that provide access to the world’s oceans. The others are in the Murmansk region on the Barents Sea, and Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean.

Let’s hope the current situation doesn’t spin out of control. There’s been enough blood spilled in this part of the world.

Here are some other articles worth reading on this developing situation:

“Among More Signs of Russian Force in Crimea, Delight Mixes With Dismay,” New York Times.

“Putin’s Playbook: The Strategy Behind Russia’s Takeover of Crimea,” The Atlantic.

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Biggest U.S. rocket blasts off with spy satellite

1 of 7. An unmanned Delta 4 Heavy rocket, the largest booster in in the U.S. fleet, lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California August 28, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Gene Blevins

LOS ANGELES | Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:09pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the largest in the U.S. fleet, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to put a classified spy satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, officials said Wednesday.

The 23-story-tall rocket lifted off at 11:03 a.m. local time/1803 GMT from a launch pad originally built for, but never used by, NASA's now-retired space shuttles.

No details about the rocket's spy-satellite payload were released.

With three main booster-rocket cores, the Delta 4-Heavy is capable of putting a satellite the size of school bus into an orbit around Earth's poles.

Wednesday's launch was the second Delta 4-Heavy to fly from California. The rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., also has flown five times from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," United Launch Alliance vice president Jim Sponnick said in a statement, praising the groups involved in the launch effort.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz from Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)

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NASA launches satellite to study how sun's atmosphere is energized

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NASA Satellite Images Provide Clues to Understanding Fire across the Globe [Slide Show]

For two weeks in April the world was ablaze. NASA satellites documented these infernos, both wild and controlled, as they burned from the U.S. to Australia

By Erin Brodwin

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Image: NASA Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC

Wildfires can start spontaneously; vegetation can become so dry that sunlight can ignite it. Farmers also set deliberate, controlled fires, usually to clear crop residue in preparation for a new planting season. All of those fires play a role in the planet’s carbon cycle, which is why in October 2011 the newly formed NASA Fire and Smoke initiative began using NASA’s MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) to track them. The MODIS project consists of two electromagnetic measuring instruments observing Earth’s surface from the satellites Terra and Aqua, which are in polar orbits but travelling in opposite directions; together, they monitor wildfires and agricultural burns across the planet. This month was the first time ever that MODIS captured fires raging almost simultaneously around the globe.

View the Global Fire slide show.

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New NASA Satellite Survey Reveals Dramatic Arctic Sea Ice Thinning

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Satellite sandwich technique improves analysis of geographical data

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