Los Angeles is an American city which is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a population estimated at 3.98 million, it is the second most populous city in the United States and the most populous in the state of California. Located in a large coastal basin surrounded on three sides by mountains as high as 3,000 m, Los Angeles covers about 1,210 km². The city is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is the center of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, with 13.1 million residents, and is part of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area, the second most populous in the nation with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.

Historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was officially founded on 4 September 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on 4 April 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, later assured the city's continued rapid growth.

Nicknamed the "City of Angels" partly because of its name's Spanish meaning, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. The city is also one of the most substantial economic engines within the nation, with a diverse economy in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. Los Angeles is also famous as the home of Hollywood, a major centre of the world entertainment industry. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index and 9th in the Global Economic Power Index. The Los Angeles combined statistical area also has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion (as of 2008), making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the event for a third time in 2028. August 2007. As of June 2014, Kansai Airport has become an Asian hub, with 780 weekly flights to Asia and Australasia (including freight 119), 59 weekly flights to Europe and the Middle East (freight 5), and 80 weekly flights to North America.

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As part of our tour around the world in 2018, we are visiting the city of Los Angeles. Located in the state of California, Los Angeles is the second most populous city in the United States, preceded only by New York. It is famous for its balmy climate, lush scenery, film and television industries, and numerous motorways as well as occasional earthquakes, bushfires, and smog.

Los Angeles' population expanded rapidly during the mid-1980s, as immigration from Latin America, especially Mexico and Asia increased. According to the 1990 census, 38 percent of the city's residents were born outside the United States. Continued immigration has made Los Angeles one of the world's most ethnically diversified cities.

With this comparison of images taken by the Sentinel-2 (optical) and Sentinel-1 (SAR) satellites, we aim to show the field of application of the Copernicus Sentinel satellite family.

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View Sentinel 2 high resolution image (JPG 3.5 MB)

View Sentinel 1 high resolution image (JPG 3.4 MB)

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