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Strait of Messina, Italy
SAR Orbit number: 48673
11 August 2004

This Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) multitemporal colour composite image is centred over the Strait of Messina that separates the Calabria region of southern Italy from Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

At its narrowest point the Strait is 3km wide while further south its width reaches 15km. The image shows the main towns of the Strait: Messina, on the Sicilian side, and Reggio-Calabria, on the Calabrian side and the two mountain chains that form the immediate backdrop to the Strait: the Monti Peloritani in Sicily and the Aspromonte in Calabria. Visible are also the sea currents, whirlpools, and winds of the strait (the different colours in the area indicate wind causing sea surface roughness on the date of acquisition). The image is composed of three ERS-2 SAR PRI (Precision Radar Image) images acquired on different dates and assigning a colour (RGB) to each date of acquisition.

Technical Information:

• Instrument: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
• Dates of Acquisition: Red: 13 February 2002, Green: 11 August 2004, Blue: 05 May 1999
• Orbit numbers: 35647, 48673, 21118
• Frame: 2835
• Instrument features: 25 meter resolution

Coordinates:

NE Lat/Long: N 38.59 / E 16.15
NW Lat/Long: N 38.77 / E 15.05
SE Lat/Long: N 37.70 / E 15.90
SW Lat/Long: N 37.88 / E 14.81