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A dramatic view of the many peaks of Colombia’s Santa Marta massif

This early morning image, taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station on February 27, 2015, shows a dramatic view of the many peaks of Colombia’s Santa Marta massif. The highest of these (approximately 18,700 feet), named for Christopher Columbus, is so high that it supports a small but permanent snow cap (image far left), even though it lies only ten degrees north of the Equator. The summits are so high that trees cannot grow -- landscapes appear gray because only grass and small shrubs can survive the cold. Interestingly, glacial erosion features can be seen throughout the gray summit zone area -- showing that an ice cap hundreds of times larger than the snow cap existed during the geologically recent ice ages...Most of the image shows the lower slopes covered with the green tinge of forests. A forest fire gives off smoke in a large valley. NASA/UPI

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