Dawn over the Skyline Rim, Factory Bench and Lower Blue Hills, Utah. The Henry Mountains are in the distance.
Location: Utah
Image ID: 38025
Aerial photo of blue whale near San Diego. This enormous blue whale glides at the surface of the ocean, resting and breathing before it dives to feed on subsurface krill.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 39422
Aerial Photo of Raplee Ridge near Mexican Hat, Utah. Raplee Ridge is a spectacular series of multicolored triangular flatirons near the San Juan River. Often called "the Raplee Anticline" the geologic structure is in fact better described as a monocline, according to the Utah Geological Survey.
Location: Mexican Hat, Utah
Image ID: 39489
Aerial photo of the San Rafael Reef at dawn. A fold in the Earth's crust leads to this inclined section of the San Rafael Reef, at the eastern edge of the San Rafael Swell. Clearly seen are the characteristic triangular flatiron erosion patterns that typical this formation. The colors seen here arise primarily from Navajo and Wingate sandstone.
Location: Utah
Image ID: 39787
The Wave, an area of fantastic eroded sandstone featuring beautiful swirls, wild colors, countless striations, and bizarre shapes set amidst the dramatic surrounding North Coyote Buttes of Arizona and Utah. The sandstone formations of the North Coyote Buttes, including the Wave, date from the Jurassic period. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Wave is located in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness and is accessible on foot by permit only.
Location: North Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, Arizona
Image ID: 20608
Upper Yosemite Falls and lunar rainbow, moonbow. A lunar rainbow (moonbow) can be seen to the left of Yosemite Falls, where the moon illuminates the spray of the falls.
Location: Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 27751
A huge blue whale swims through the open ocean in this aerial photograph. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on Earth.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02169
Blue whale aerial photo, with the shadow of the survey plane providing scale as to how huge the whale really is.
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 02168
Blue whale fluking up (raising its tail) before a dive to forage for krill, Baja California (Mexico).
Species: Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus
Image ID: 03332
Panoramic Aerial Photo of San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 30789
Panorama dimensions: 7503 x 14441
Pre-Dawn over the Tree of Eons, Utah. The Tree of Eons is a spectacular geologic sight near the San Rafael Swell. Erosion has cut a "tree" through red, blue, purple and white layers of the Chinle formation. The Tree of Eons is a superb example of dendritic erosion and to really appreciate the complex fractal-like details it must be observed from above. Photographed here in the soft, predawn light, it takes on magenta, red and purple hues just before the sun reaches it. Aerial panoramic photograph.
Location: Utah
Image ID: 38027
Cathedral Rocks reflected in a meadow flooded by the Merced River, historical snowmelt following record snowfall floods Yosemite Valley in May 2023.
Location: Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 39375
Aspens show fall colors in Mineral King Valley, part of Sequoia National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, California.
Location: Mineral King, Sequoia National Park, California
Image ID: 32298
The Botanical Building in Balboa Park, San Diego. The Botanical Building, at 250 feet long by 75 feet wide and 60 feet tall, was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. The Botanical Building, located on the Prado, west of the Museum of Art, contains about 2,100 permanent tropical plants along with changing seasonal flowers. The Lily Pond, just south of the Botanical Building, is an eloquent example of the use of reflecting pools to enhance architecture. The 193' by 43' foot pond and smaller companion pool were originally referred to as Las Lagunas de las Flores (The Lakes of the Flowers) and were designed as aquatic gardens. The pools contain exotic water lilies and lotus which bloom spring through fall.
Location: Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Image ID: 28823