Happy Mardi Gras: New Orleans from Above
When you purchase through connection on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works . The storeyed city of New Orleans within a shallow depression underlain by unconsolidated ( broadly speaking settled ) river sediments , which puts its average tiptop at about 6 feet ( 1.8 beat ) below sea level . In this spaceman photograph from November 2006 , sunglint — light think over directly back to the camera onboard theInternational Space Station(ISS ) from a water surface — accentuates the wetland stage setting of New Orleans by highlighting the numerous lakes , ponds , and river ( in various shades of silver - gray ) fence the metropolis ....