This natural-color satellite image of North America didn't come easy. Do you notice anything missing?

It's a combination of some 500 orbital passes by NASA's Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) satellite orbits, along with with shaded relief digital elevation models from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and other sources. The neat part: The data was all collected on mostly cloud-free days.

An astonishing diversity of geological features, ecological systems and human landscapes across North America is indicated within the image. In addition to the contiguous United States, the scene spans from British Columbia in the northwest to Newfoundland in the northeast, and extends eastward to the lonely Bermuda Islands and southward to the Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico.

Draped in green, the eastern and central United States and Canada contrast with the vibrant geology that is laid bare across the arid portions of the southwestern United States and central Mexico.

Along Mexico's east coast, the lush vegetation to the east of the Sierra Madre mountain range indicates the orographic rainfall gradient along this subtropical-tropical coast. In the high Rocky Mountains and in British Columbia's Coast Range, many peaks remain snow-covered year-round.

The MISR observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 north and 82 south latitude.

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA / GSFC / LaRC / JPL, SRTM / MISR Teams