The Landsat Program - Images
Mount Mulanje
A natural-color Landsat 7 image showing the Mulanje Mountain Biosphere Reserve.
Mount Mulanje is in Malawi, Africa at the southern end of the Great Rift Valley.
In southern Malawi, Africa near the Mozambique border, Mount Mulanje rises over 9400 feet into the sky. The “Island in the Sky,” as locals refer to it, often towers above the mist that is prevalent around its flanks. This botanically rich area was designated as the Mulanje Mountain Biosphere Reserve in 1927. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre has called the Mulanje reserve, “an interesting feature scientifically, educationally, socially.”
On this Landsat image, the dark green hues of the mature vegetation within the reserve make the boundary of the protected region unmistakable. Lake Chilwa can be seen north of Mount Mulanje.
This perspective image uses a Landsat 7 image acquired on May 26, 2002 coupled with elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).
The visualization was created by Jesse Allen of NASA’s Earth Observatory. Mount Mulanje is found on Landsat WRS-2 Path 167 Row 71, the natural-color Landsat 7 composite uses ETM+ bands 3, 2, and 1.
Visit the Earth Observatory article about Mount Mulanje.
Download a high-resolution JPEG of this Landsat image (400 Kb)
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