Geography  

• Articles
• Books

SRTM Perspective View with Landsat Overlay: Santa Barbara, California

This perspective view of the Santa Barbara region was generated using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and an enhanced Landsat satellite image. The view is toward the northeast, from the Goleta Valley in the foreground to a snow-capped Mount Abel (elevation 2526 m or 8286 feet) along the skyline. The coast here generally faces south. Consequently, Fall and Winter sunrises occur over the ocean, which is unusual for the U.S. west coast. The Santa Barbara "back country" is very rugged and largely remains as undeveloped wilderness and an important watershed for local communities.

The elevation data used in this image was acquired by SRTM aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of Earth's land surface.

Location (Isla Vista): 34.41 deg. North lat., 119.85 deg. West lon.
View: East
Scale: Scale Varies in this Perspective
Date Acquired: February 16, 2000 SRTM, December 14, 1984 Landsat

Image and Text Source:  NASA

• Department of Geography