View from space: Sochi Winter Olympic sites

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February 7, 2014

View larger image |Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

NASA’s Terra spacecraft acquired this image of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games ski and snowboard runs in Sochi, Russia on January 4.

You can see the ski resort near Sochi, Russia, in the valley at center, and the runs are visible on the shadowed slopes on the left-hand side of the valley. The games, which begin on today and continue for 17 days, feature six new skiing and boarding events plus the return of the legendary Jamaican bobsled team to the winter games for the first time since 2002.

In this southwest-looking image, red indicates vegetation, white is snow, and the resort site appears in gray. The area imaged is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) across in the foreground and 20 miles (32 kilometers) from front to back.

Eleanor Imster

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About the Author:

Eleanor Imster has helped write and edit EarthSky since 1995. She was an integral part of the award-winning EarthSky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. She and her husband live in Tennessee, where they enjoy guitar playing and singing. They have 2 grown sons.