From the manned flights conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States, about 3,500 color photographs were taken which show features of geologic, oceanographic, or meteorologic interest.

The distribution of suspended sediment is apparent over areas of 2,000-8,000 km², in amazing detail, in photographs of waters off major river deltas, such as the Orinoco, Mississippi, and Irrawaddy, where great volumes are introduced into the sea from the streams.

Photographs of coastal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, and southwest Africa show suspended sediments distributed by small eddies and rip currents to distances of 30 km from shore.

Where tidal exchange and/or strong offshore winds result in nonperiodic flows from estuaries and lagoons, suspended sediments are visible to distances of 150 km from the shore. As along the Texas coast in the Gulf

FOOTNOTE 1. Canadian Petroleum Association figures, end of 1967.

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of Mexico, the distribution of these sediments portrays the turbulent water motion in eddy configurations having diameters of 30-90 km.

These impressive space photographs indicate that photo scales of 1:1,000,000 to 1:4,000,000, have an unmatched utility in surveillance of major nearshore sedimentation, patterns of coastal currents, and the magnitude of deviations from normal conditions.

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