SOME of the world’s most dramatic landscapes jump out of this 3D map of South America, released by NASA last week. The computer-generated map comes from data gathered by the space shuttle Endeavour in February 2000, when a radar system incorporating a 60-metre mast – the largest fold-out structure in space – bounced signals off 80 per cent of the world’s landmass.
On the colour-coded map, low levels are green and mountains rise through yellow and tan to white at their highest points. The dominant feature is the Andes, its mountains and volcanoes built mainly by the Nazca tectonic plate sliding underneath…
