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 Ligurian Sea
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From west to east, southern France,the Alps, northern Italy separated from Corsica to the south by the Ligurian Sea are visible this Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) image.
The Alps are capped with ice and snow in spite of the hotter-than-usual temperatures Europe was feeling on this 15th of July.
Two major river valleys carrying water out of the Alps are the Rhone Valley, to the west of the mountain chain, and the Po Valley to the east. The delta of the Rhone, the Bouches-du-Rhne at center image, is flanked to the east by the region of Provence, where the very dry Var region is subject to frequent forest fires in this season.
In the northern Adriatic at the very top right of the image, the drought in Italy and the reduced flow of the Po river are evidenced by the unusually small amount of sediment (the light green colour along the coast) present in the sea.
Compare the Meris image of 19 February 2003 for a view of sediment in the Adriatic during a wetter season. Bands 7 (red), 5 (green) and 2 (blue), corresponding to visible light, were used to create this image. |
| Technical Information: | |
Satellite: Envisat
Instrument: MERIS
Acquistion: 15-Jul-2003
Orbit nr: 07176
Centre coordinates: lat. 44.12, lon. 9.50
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| Credit: European Space Agency. All rights reserved. |
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