La Rochelle (France) , August 2002

Map of Area

La Rochelle (France) - La Rochelle, the capital of the department of Charente-Maritime, lies on an inlet of the Bay of Biscay, opposite the Ile de Ré. It is an important base for Atlantic fishing boats and is served by the major commercial port of La Pallice.This SAR multitemporal image is generated from three separate acquisitions using the European Space Agency's environmental radar satellite ERS-2. This image was generated in occasion of the ESA exhibition in France: the city is shown as a cluster of bright points in the middle of the image along the coast. In the south of La Rochelle the Oléron Island is visible in dark brown.Opposite La Rochelle Town is visible the Ile de Ré Island; there is a bridge that joins the two coasts.
Along the coast and around the Island, the dark orange area depends on the difference between high and low tides. 
The different colours of the fields can be explained by the change in vegetation during the differents acquisitions.The different colours of the sea can be explained by different wind conditions during the acquisitions.


In Red ERS-2 acquired on 22 Jul 2001 - Orbit 32699 / Frame 2676
In Green ERS-2 acquired on 24 Dec 2000 - Orbit 29693 / Frame 2676
In Blue ERS-2 acquired on 04 Mar 2001 - Orbit 30695 / Frame 2676

These images were acquired at Matera station (Italy)

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Multitemporal SAR image.