This ALOS image was acquired over Anatolia’s dry, central plateau in Turkey. On the left side we can see the whole of Lake Tersakan, with part of Lake Tuz in the upper right corner.
Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second largest lake, as well as one of the largest saline lakes in the world. During the summer months, however, the lake water recedes to expose a thick layer of salt.
The bright white surface during these dry summer months has been used by Earth-observing satellites to calibrate their sensors for the color white – much like how you would adjust a camera’s white balance setting.
Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) captured this image on 21 October 2010 with its Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type-2 instrument.
This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.
Photo credit: JAXA, ESA
The recently launched Proba-V miniaturized satellite captured this image over the border region of northern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq on 28 May. The area pictured is about 500 km across, with large reservoir lakes along the Euphrates River visible on the left, and another along the Tigris River on the right. In the central-right portion of the image, we can see Iraq’s Sinjar mountains. Proba-V will map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days with its Vegetation imager. In this image, the contrast between the green areas – some with agricultural plots – and the sparsely vegetated areas is evident. It demonstrates Proba-V’s ability to see slight differences in vegetation cover. Vegetation intensity and health can help in crop yield predictions and to map interannual changes in vegetation cover.
This image is featured on the Earth from Space video program.
Photo credit: ESA
Istanbul and the surrounding area in northwestern Turkey are captured in this image acquired by Envisat’s MERIS instrument on 9 June 2011. To the north is the Black Sea, which connects to the Sea of Marmara (center) via the Bosphorus strait. The Dardanelles strait connects the Marmara to the Aegean Sea (lower left corner). Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, is near the center of the image at the Bosphorus strait. Istanbul straddles two continents (Europe and Asia), making it a true meeting place of the East and the West.
Turkey’s location makes it vulnerable to earthquakes, with the 1000 km-long North Anatolian fault just 15 km south of Istanbul. Because earthquakes can suddenly render current maps out of date, satellite images are useful for updating views of how the landscape has been affected as well as creating reference cartography for emergency operations. In addition, before and after satellite images of the area enable authoritative damage assessment as a basis for planning remedial action.
Photo credit: ESA
