Encyclopedia atlas of terrestrial impact craters / Энциклопедический атлас ударных кратеров земли

Craters on the Earth are traces on the path our planet has followed to come to existence from the early nebula which was filling this corner of the galaxy.
Millions of cataclysmic events were necessary about five billions of years ago to form the Earth. We do not have evidences of this part of the Earth history on the surface. However, impacts continued through the Ages and traces of the most recent craters are present over the surface of the Earth. Documenting them through satellite observations provides important information on the genesis of our planet through a very valuable, systematic observational approach.
This atlas is unique in its kind. The images are provided by the Italian COSMO-SkyMed SAR constellation, likely the most advanced system in the world in the X band. Radar images were acquired under a uniform spatial resolution, illumination, and operating mode in order to maximize the quality of the resulting archive. These images, when possible, are accompanied by Sentinel optical satellites developed and operated for the European Commission by ESA, providing a most complete cross-check and additional information. Also, craters have their evolution. Their initial shape depends on the impactor kinetic energy, the structure of the ground, and other parameters. They then get slowly erased and sometimes buried by sediments with time in ways which are depending on geology and environmental conditions on a active planet as the Earth.
By documenting and localizing almost two hundreds of known craters, this Atlas will be very useful to better understand crater formation and evolution and provides a new research method that may, hopefully, help new crater findings. Getting through these pages, it is then both a scientific experience and an aesthetic experience, which I hope you will fully enjoy. <...>