GROUND
TRUTHING
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A MYSTERY SOLVED ON THE GROUND
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Things that are mysterious from aerial or space
images may be very obvious to an observer standing on the
ground. This "close up and personal" observation is called
GROUND TRUTHING and is a very important part of the
scientific interpretation of remote imaging. Normally it
would have been impossible to get ground observation to
match the GeoCam pictures but in the case of the Atacam
there was a lucky break. Sergio Ballivan from the National
Geographic Society just happened to be working in the area
of the Antiplano on the very day this series of photos were
taken from space.
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Sergio immediately recognized the white pattern
as being the result of a freak snow storm (extremely rare in
this normally dry land) followed by high winds (very
common). The wind blew the newly fallen snow into every
crevice and piled it up against every elevated feature. This
caused a dramatic but very temporary white pattern that just
happened to be there when STS-57 flew over that particular
day.
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ANSWER - SNOW AND
WIND
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