SPACEPHOTOS

The color infrared image (green vegetation is portrayed as shades of red) dramatically shows where development has and is occurring on this northeast peninsula of Sabah, the second largest state of Malaysia (located on the island of Borneo). The Sulu (northeast) and Celebes (east) Seas separate this peninsula from several of the Philippine islands that are located east of Borneo. The darker terrain (deeper reds bottom half of image) shows a mixture of relatively flat, swampy, densely vegetated landscape along the north coast of the peninsula; while low, rainforest – covered mountains are visible near the lower right corner of the image. The lighter shades of red indicate where agricultural plantations have replaced the rainforests. The widely scattered, grayish-looking areas show where the land has been recently cleared, either for agricultural purposes or mining activities.