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Top Ten Photos of the Year

Editor Chris Johns picks his favorite photos published in 2009.

/2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-01.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0160.jpg Redwoods: October 2009 At least 1,500 years old, a 300-foot titan in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the most complex crown scientists have mapped. This photo, taken by Michael Nichols, is a mosaic composed of 84 images. Click here to see larger version and full credit.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-02.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0260.jpg Indonesia: October 2009 Facing the dawn, women of the An-Nadzir commune begin Islam's Feast of the Sacrifice, which celebrates the Koran's account of God sparing the prophet Ismail. As the sun rises, their prayers join those raised by a chorus of Indonesia's Muslims, fundamentalist and moderate alike: "Allah akbar." God is great.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-03.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0360.jpg Hadza: December 2009 Like his ancestors, young Nija will grow up to roam the wildlands around Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania—if outside pressures don't curtail his people's freedom first.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-04.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0460.jpg Green Roofs: May 2009 A garland of nature crowns Chicago's City Hall, softening the hard edges of a town famous for steel and stone—and lowering summer temperatures on the roof. Inspired by a worldwide movement, Mayor Richard Daley has made Chicago North America's leading "green roofs" city.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1212045 /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-05.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0560.jpg Murray-Darling Basin: April 2009 Simon Booth remembers when he grazed 250 head of cattle on his ranch in southeastern Australia—a sight his children Ryan and Claire may never see.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-06.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0660.jpg Deep Southern Caves: June 2009 Prime qualification for cavers: tolerance for a tight squeeze. John Benson can make progress only with his helmet off and his head turned just so. He exhales, making his body as flat as possible, slides a few inches on his back, stops, inhales, and repeats. Photo taken in Thunder Hole Cave, Alabama.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-07.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0760.jpg The Global Food Crisis: June 2009 Stung by soaring food prices, angry Egyptians throng a kiosk selling government-subsidized bread near the Great Pyramid at Giza. Across the globe, rising demand and flat supplies have rekindled the old debate over whether production can keep up with population. ]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-08.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0860.jpg Parallel Rivers: May 2009 Muscling over the Nu River's rush on a steel cable, Nan Boyi hauls a cow to market. The hard-earned sale brought this Lisu-minority villager about $150, two-thirds the average yearly income in rural Yunnan Province.]]> /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-09.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-0960.jpg Kamchatka Salmon: August 2009 Fattening up for winter, a brown bear waits to snatch salmon in Kuril Lake.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1248221 /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-10.jpg /2009/12/top-ten/img/top10-1060.jpg Amazon Dolphins: June 2009 River dolphins navigating the Amazon Basin's tea-colored brew of silt and rotting vegetation seem to glow orange. Out of water they're pale gray, with some marked in pink. Called botos here in Brazil, they use high-frequency sonar clicks to build a 3-D echogram of their dark world.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1217513