Stunning views of Earth from the ISS (pictures)

1 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Winter at the lake

Today, astronaut Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station. Hadfield came aboard the ISS in mid-December (part of Expedition 34), and relieves NASA Commander Kevin Ford. From high above Earth, Hadfield and his Expedition 35 crew continue to work on various health experiments (PDF), tech tests, and spacewalks.

The Canadian astronaut -- who posts multiple updates a day to Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ -- often shoots and shares amazing dSLR pictures of Earth from the ISS.

In this photo, the solar panels of the ISS provide a techie contrast to this stunning image of Lake Baikal in the Siberia region of Russia. The 5,387-foot deep lake formed around 25 million years ago, which makes it the world's deepest and oldest lake on Earth.

2 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Clouds over the Sahara

As the ISS floated over the Sahara Desert in Africa, Hadfield snapped this image of a cloud casting a silhouette of an animal.

3 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Yin and yang

Snow is common to many of Hadfield's photos, but you might be amazed at this capture of a snowstorm's path in the southwestern U.S. It's clearly obvious where the cold weather struck the land -- and where it didn't.

"A natural yin and yang on the prairie," Hadfield said of the shot on his Google+ profile.

4 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Moonrise

Hadfield's vantage point from the ISS delivers a rare view of the moon just starting to rise above the Earth's horizon.

5 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Australian Outback

The iron-rich Australian Outback looks like abstract art from great heights, especially due to the numerous colors and ridges in this photo. Can you see the fox?

6 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Astounding Amazon

A spectacular gold hue washes over the waters of the Amazon basin in Brazil.

7 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Mount Taranaki

Confused by Hadfield’s overhead picture featuring the astounding symmetrical shape of the 8,261-foot tall Mount Taranaki (also known as Mount Egmont) in New Zealand? Farmers converted most of the land surrounding the volcano into pasture, which leads right up to the heavy forests within the national park's circular boundary.

8 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Saskatchewan snowfall

Snow blankets Regina, the capital of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

9 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Down Under drips

This isn't a Salvador Dali painting. It's another exceptional angle of the abstract Australian Outback.

10 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

A line between Egypt and Israel

"Most borders are invisible from orbit," Hadfield said in a Google+ post. The astronaut describes the visible line between Egypt and Israel as "a rare sight."

11 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Vesuvius volcano

Mount Vesuvius in Italy serves as the most densely populated volcanic region in the world, with more than 3 million residents in nearby Naples and the surrounding area. You can see Pompeii on the left side of the coast, while Naples sits to the far right.

12 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

San Francisco shimmer

The waters of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay shine a magnificent golden hue as the rays of the sun dance off the water.

13 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

London lights

In this magnificent image of an illuminated London at night, you can clearly see the 114-mile diameter M25 motorway that mostly encircles the U.K. capital city.

14 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Capturing a dragon

With assistance from the Canadarm2, the ISS docked with SpaceX's Dragon cargo vehicle on March 3. Hadfield explains how the astronauts control the massive robot appendage that helps maintain the ISS in this informative video:

15 of 15Chris Hadfield, NASA, CSA

Photographer at play

For his photography ventures, Hadfield uses Nikon D2XS and D3S dSLRs, as well as a variety of lenses including the 400mm telephoto seen here. The astronaut -- a social-media hound with more than half a million followers on Twitter -- often shares his pictures captured from the Cupola module on the ISS. The small area features seven large windows in a 360-degree orientation. The setup includes 31-inch glass in the middle (the largest ever used in a spacecraft), a perfect place for snapping a spectacular shot.

Hadfield returns to Earth on May 14.