Reading the ABCs from Space

Adam Voiland is a science writer for the Nasa Earth Observatory. A few years ago, while working on a story about wildfires, a V appeared to him in a satellite image of a smoke plume over Canada. That image made him wonder: "could I track down all 26 letters of the English alphabet using only NASA satellite imagery and astronaut photography?"

With the help of readers and colleagues, Adam Voiland started to collect images of ephemeral features like clouds, phytoplankton blooms, and dust clouds that formed shapes reminiscent of letters. Some letters, like O and C, were easy to find. Others—A, B, and R—were maddeningly difficult. Note that the A below is cursive. And if you can find a better example of any letter (in NASA imagery), send the Nasa Earth Observatory an email with the date, latitude, and longitude.

When Adam Voiland finally tracked down all the letters and it was time write captions, he happened to be a new dad and deep into a Dr. Seuss reading phase with his son. The Seuss-inspired ABC gallery below is the result. To add some education to the fun, he added hyperlinks (highlighted in blue) to help you find out more about specific places, names, and features. To view a large version of an image, click on it.

To view all the 26 letters from space, please visit the website of the Nasa Earth Observatory.

B -On August 4, 2014, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of the Arkansas River and the Holla Bend Wildlife Refuge. In the winter, it is common for the refuge to host 100,000 ducks and geese at once:

C - an astronaut captured this photograph of an artificial island at the southern end of Bahrain Island on January 23, 2011. The beach sand on tropical islands is mostly made up of calcium carbonate from the shells and skeletons of marine organisms:

D - the Enhanced Thematic Mapper on Landsat 7 acquired this image of Akimiski Island in James Bay on August 9, 2000:

E -On October 25, 2009, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of a phytoplankton bloom off the coast of New Zealand:

F -The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this false-color image of valleys and snow-covered mountain ranges in southeastern Tibet on August 4, 2014. Firn is a granular type of snow often found on the surface of a glacier before it has been compressed into ice:

G -this image of Pinaki Island was captured by astronauts on the International Space Station in April 2001:

H -On, August 30, 2014, the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 acquired this image of rivers running through colorful ridges in southwestern Kyrgyzstan:

I -On February 10, 2007, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the Andaman Islands. The thin, bright rings surrounding several of the islands are coral reefs that were lifted up by a massive earthquake near Sumatra in 2004:

J - on July 17, 2015, the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 captured this image of the Trunk Reef near Townsville, Australia:

K -on August 3, 2015, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this image of glaciers at the Sirmilik National Park Pond Inlet in Mittimatalik, Canada:

A - an astronaut captured this photograph of Utah’s Green River doubling back on itself—a feature known as Bowknot Bend—from the International Space Station on January 22, 2014: