Gaeta Italy

SAR Orbit number: 51858

31 March 2005

Description:
This multitemporal radar image of the west coast of Italy combines data from three SAR radar acquisitions made by ERS-2.
Readily visible is the mountainous formation of Circeo, the location according to Homeric tradition of the temple of the sorceress Circe, mid-image, just south of a series of salt-water coastal lakes which today are the Italian National Park San Felice Circeo. Farther south along the Gulf of Gaeta lie three spectacular sites, Terracina, Sperlonga, and Gaeta; Terracina in particular is the location of ruins of a major Greek temple of antiquity. Gaeta is situated on a promontory at the tip of the peninsula just north of the curving blue bay at mid-right; Terracina on a hilltop and along the shallow bay southwest of the lake of Fondi which is slightly inland, Sperlonga on the coast between the two cities.
The volcanic islands of Ventotene and Ponza (the largest, which has served as a place of exile throughout Italian history) can be seen at the extreme lower left.
The impression that the mountains "lean" toward the radar is an effect characteristic of side-looking radars in an ascending pass, where returns from one side of the slope reach the radar before those from the other side.
This multitemporal image was created by combining acquisitions from 21 March 2005 (red), 1 May 2000 (green), and 17 July 1995 (blue).

Technical Information:

• Instrument: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
• Dates of Acquisition: 17 July 1995, 1 May 2000, 31 March 2005
• Orbit numbers: 01257, 26307, 51858
• Orbit direction: Ascending
• Instrument features: 25 meter resolution
• Coordinates:

NW Lat/Long: N 41.24 / E 12.50
NE Lat/Long: N 41.24 / E 13.42
SE Lat/Long: N 40.51 / E 13.42 
SW Lat/Long: N 40.52 / E 12.50

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Keywords: ESA European Space Agency - Agence spatiale europeenne, observation de la terre, earth observation, satellite remote sensing, teledetection, geophysique, altimetrie, radar, chimique atmospherique, geophysics, altimetry, radar, atmospheric chemistry