These 15 Views Of Alaska From Outer Space Will Leave You In Awe
By Courtney|Published January 27, 2017
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Courtney
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Living and loving life in Alaska, Courtney enjoys living a happy life based on simple principles; work hard, be kind, stay humble. She is an avid dog lover with hobbies that include running, fly fishing, hiking & snowboarding.
There is no denying that the Last Frontier is profoundly beautiful. Pretty much anyone that visits falls instantly in love, while local residents would never choose to live anywhere else in the world. But when you see just how big, mighty and powerful Alaska is from high up in space – it will completely blow your mind. These spectacular images from outer space offer up a glorious amount of eye-candy and they are sure to mesmerize you.
1. Located in the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, the Pavlof volcano eruption on May 18, 2013 was captured from the International Space Station.
2. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were amazed by the seismic plumes from the Pavlof eruption that were captured by NASA's satellite imagery.
3. The largest piedmont glacier in North America (and possibly the world) is Malaspina, located in southeastern Alaska. On September 24, 2014, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this image that shows the main source of ice coming off of the Seward Glacier at the top.
4. This phenomenal image shows a NASA-funded sounding rocket as it launches into an Aurora Borealis show in the early morning of March 3, 2014, over Venetie, Alaska.
6. On May 30, 2011 the Columbia Glacier is captured from above as it descends from an ice field 10,000 feet above sea level. It heads down the flanks of the Chugach Mountains into a narrow inlet that leads into Prince William Sound.
8. To really put into perspective just how massive sea ice is when viewing it from outer space, this image captured on July 20, 2011 from Beaufort Sea (northeast of Barrow) shows how torrential it also is to navigate through.
9. Pictured here is Bering Glacier. This is the largest and longest glacier in continental North America which takes up an impressive 2,000 square miles and nearly 6% of the total glacier-covered area in Alaska.
Unfortunately warmer temperatures and changes in precipitation over the past century have thinned out the Bering Glacier steadily. Over 7.5 miles of the glacier has retreated since the 1900s.
10. This stunning shot was captured on June 1, 2010 and it shows a small volcanic plume rising above the remote Mount Cleveland on the Aleutian islands.
What makes the even more interesting is that the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported ash emissions above Mount Cleveland around 16,000 feet on May 30th, 2010.
11. This shot shows a VERY rare clear view of Alaska from outer space. While most days are filled with a considerable amount of clouds scattered throughout the state, this shot from June 17, 2013 was an exceptional capture.
12. Pictured here is a composite shot of four rockets for the M-TeX and MIST NASA experiments that began at 4:13 a.m. on January 26, 2015 from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska.
Flickr - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
13. Shown here from outer space are the remote, rugged and extraordinarily beautiful Aleutian Islands.
This special place in Alaska is best known for its wildlife reserves, military bases, fishing, hunting, furs and fog. It's also very isolated and is known for having high winds and intense weather patterns.
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14. This NASA satellite imagery shows a massive amount of extensive ice fractures in the Beaufort Sea off the northern coast of Alaska.
15. This wild imagery acquired by NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 14, 2015 shows one of the most tragic fire seasons that Alaska has ever witnessed. Before these fires in 2015, the year of 2004 brought the worst wildfire records to Alaska.
