The freshwater Lake Constance in Central Europe is pictured in this image from the Sentinel-1A satellite.
Formed by the Rhine Glacier during the last Ice Age, it covers an area of about 540 sq km and is an important source of drinking water for southwestern Germany.
The lake has shorelines in three countries: Germany to the north, Switzerland to the south and Austria at its eastern end. Over the water body, however, there are no borders because there is no legally binding agreement on where they lie.
In the lower-right, we can see where the Rhine river flows into the lake from the south, which then flows out of the lake to the west (left). This and other rivers carry sediments from the Alps, extending the coastline and decreasing the lake’s water depth.
The runways of Germany’s Friedrichshafen Airport are visible in the right section of the image. The Aviation & Aerospace Museum is nearby.
This image was acquired on 10 May in ‘interferometric wide swath mode’ and in dual polarization.
The radar instrument gathers information in either horizontal or vertical radar pulses, and colors were assigned to the different types. In this image, buildings generally appear pink, while vegetation is green. Areas with lowest reflectivity in all polarizations appear very dark, like the water.
Sentinel-1A’s radar is still being calibrated following its 3 April 2014 launch, but early images like this give us a glimpse of the kind of operational imagery that this mission will provide for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring program.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video program.
Image credit: ESA
Astronauts on the International Space Station fly over our planet at around 300 km altitude. From that distance it is not always easy to distinguish countries and cities – political borders cannot be seen from space. This image however clearly shows Italy’s distinctive outline as it contrasts with the blackness of the Mediterranean Sea at night.
The lights to the north of Italy that houses much industry stop more or less at the border with France, Switzerland and Austria. The cities of Turin and Milan show up brightly, as do Rome and Naples further to the south.
The island of Sicily can be seen at the bottom-right of this image with Italy’s other large island, Sardinia, to the left. Above, and almost touching Sardinia, is the island of Corsica that is not part of Italy.
The line of lights following the northern contours of the Mediterranean Sea is the French coastline known as the ‘Côte d’Azur’ or French Riviera.
The thin green line following Earth’s curve is our atmosphere that keeps us warm, protects us from the Sun and cosmic rays as well as the vacuum of space. These images from space show how populated and industrialized Europe is and the enormous impact humans have on our planet.
Photo credit: ESA/NASA
The snow-kissed Alps that stretch across France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Slovenia are captured in this Envisat image, acquired on 16 January 2012. Owing to this snow cover and a relatively low illumination angle of the Sun during this time of year, the ranges and valleys of the mountains stand out in the image.
Just south of the Alps we see the typical winter fog and clouds over the Po Valley. Stretching down the length of the Italian peninsula are the Apennine Mountains. In the lower-right corner, we can see Italy’s Lake Trasimeno. Closer to the Alps is the long Lake Garda. On the opposite side of the Alps from Garda, on the border of Switzerland, Germany and Austria, is Lake Constance. Further north in the upper-left portion of the image we can see Germany’s Black Forest.
Photo credit: ESA
