Gibraltar - Strait of Gibraltar

STS039-151-193 (28 April-6 May 1991) --- The Strait of Gibraltar, the only outlet for the Mediterranean Sea, was photographed with a large format handheld camera by the STS-39 crew members. Scientists site evidence in Shuttle photography that the Mediterranean Sea dried up a number of times between 5 million and 20 million years ago. Sea levels, they say, dropped slightly, cutting off the Mediterranean (top right) from the Atlantic Ocean (bottom). In southern Spain, the dark area near the coast is the delta of the Guadalquivir River with the city of Seville. The Sierra Nevada range still has some snow. A small field fire near the Spanish coast has generated a conspicuous smoke plume. The small spike of land on the north side of the Strait is the Rock of Gibraltar, an outpost of the British empire. The larger spike of land on the north coast of Africa marks the border between Morocco (center foreground) and Algeria (right). The sharp line cutting across them Mediterranean (top right) marks the edge of a dust cloud blowing from Africa into Europe. Photo credit: NASA

africa atlantic ocean earth observations from space europe oceans straits sts 39 johnson space center strait gibraltar high resolution mediterranean sea coast spike land sea levels spanish coast africa marks sts 39 crew members scientists site evidence million years sierra nevada range april 6 may shuttle photography million guadalquivir river field fire smoke plume marks center foreground dust cloud photo credit mediterranean region nasa

06/05/1991

NASA

https://images.nasa.gov/

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