SRTM Perspective View with Landsat Overlay: Santa Barbara,
California This perspective view of the Santa Barbara region was
generated using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission
(SRTM) and an enhanced Landsat satellite image. The view is
toward the northeast, from the Goleta Valley in the foreground
to a snow-capped Mount Abel (elevation 2526 m or 8286 feet)
along the skyline. The coast here generally faces south.
Consequently, Fall and Winter sunrises occur over the ocean,
which is unusual for the U.S. west coast. The Santa Barbara
"back country" is very rugged and largely remains as undeveloped
wilderness and an important watershed for local communities. The
elevation data used in this image was acquired by SRTM aboard
the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM
used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne
Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR)
that flew twice on Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to
collect three-dimensional measurement