Here's another chance to play geographical detective! This Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) image covers an area of about 317 kilometers x 412 kilometers, and was captured by the instrument's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on July 4, 2001. Use any reference materials you like and answer the following three questions:

1. Near the left-hand edge, above image center, are two light-blue lakes separated by a narrow strip of land. Three of the following four statements about them are true. Which one is false?
(A) The lakes are in a depression formed by tectonic and volcanic activity.
(B) Several rare and endangered bird species breed here.
(C) The dominant species of fish is the weatherfish, Misgurnus fossilis.
(D) Water levels can vary considerably, causing changes to the size of exposed islands.

2. To the right of image center is a large lake. About 30 kilometers northwest of the northern tip of this lake is a border city, which from 1913 to 1949 had a different name than the one it goes by today. Three of the following four statements about the city are true. Which one is false?
(A) Coal mining and food processing are important to the local economy.
(B) Transshipment facilities for handling crude oil are planned, but have not yet been constructed.
(C) Mammoth fossils have been discovered here.
(D) Railway passengers can cross the border into this city on the #20 train.

3. In the lower right-hand quadrant of the image is a blue-green lake partially obscured by some cumulus clouds. This lake is part of a nation whose capital city contains a landmark square named for a national hero. A statue in the square portrays this individual (choose one):
(A) At the helm of a ship
(B) Seated on a throne
(C) Standing in the company of another person
(D) On horseback

See quiz answers

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.