NASA's Earth Science PoD - 27th March 2013

Delighted to say that NASA have used another of my photographs as today's Earth Science Picture of the Day. It's linked here. It was taken on a recent visit to Madeira which, as it turned out, wasn't very productive photographically.

Levada

There are about 1,000 miles of levadas or irrigation channels on Madeira, many of which are walkable. Some are tiny, like this one in the photograph, whilst others are much larger. They distribute water around the contours of the volcanic island to irrigate the steeply terraced mountainsides on which the island's fruit and vegetables are grown. In places the levadas flow through tunnels, some of which can be walked - a head torch is essential for the longer underground stretches. The picture above is just a few miles to the west of the capital Funchal.