The ranges and valleys of the Swiss Alps stand out on this picture captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission in December 2024.
Extending some 1200 km, the Alps occupy an space of about 200 000 sq km and are residence to some 20 million individuals. The picture reveals the Bernese Alps, which type the central a part of the Swiss Alps.
On this picture, the daylight comes from the southeast, illuminating the snow-capped mountains and creating thick shadows over the northern slopes. These shadows throughout the picture might play methods on the attention, as they will simply be misinterpreted as water our bodies.
The most important water physique seen within the picture is the japanese a part of Lake Thun, showing in darkish blue within the high left. Simply subsequent to the japanese nook of the lake lies the city of Interlaken, situated between lakes Thun and Brienz. Interlaken is partially lined by low-lying clouds trapped within the valley ground, whereas lake Brienz, to its west, is totally lined.
Close to the centre of the picture we are able to see the Aletsch Glacier, the biggest within the Alps, which stretches for about 23 km and covers an space of round 80 sq km. A typical valley glacier, Aletsch originates in a big, flat space of snow and ice excessive within the mountains referred to as Concordia, the place three smaller glaciers converge. Switzerland’s three well-known Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau mountains rise north of Concordia. The Aletsch Glacier extends south, and its meltwater creates the Massa River within the valley beneath.
Glaciers on this area are displaying long-term retreat from local weather change, which poses elevated dangers comparable to flooding and landslides to communities.
Aletsch and the encircling mountains are a part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch protected space, a UNESCO World Heritage web site, which is residence to a large variety of ecosystems and is of main significance to scientific analysis in geology, geomorphology, climatic change, biology and atmospheric physics.
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