The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission exhibits us a uncommon, cloud-free view of Iceland captured on 17 Might 2025.
Zoom in to discover this picture at its full decision or click on on the circles.
In its distant location within the North Atlantic Ocean, Iceland is the westernmost European nation and one of the northerly inhabited locations on the planet. The island is legendary for its scenic panorama, together with volcanoes, glaciers, lakes, lava fields, sizzling springs and greater than 4800 km of shoreline.
Iceland’s local weather makes it a great habitat for sparse grassland, intensive bogs and moors, quite than lush forests. It might subsequently be tough to distinguish vegetation and naked floor in a true-colour satellite tv for pc picture.
This false-colour picture has been processed utilizing the near-infrared channel of Sentinel-3’s Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI). It highlights vegetation in shades of crimson and makes it simpler to tell apart between vegetated areas and naked floor or solidified lava fields which seem brownish. Darker and even black areas denote brisker lava flows.
Greater than 11% of the island is roofed by glaciers – greater than on the entire of continental Europe. The big, white space on the jap a part of the island is the Vatnajökull Nationwide Park, residence to the Vatnajökull Glacier. With an space of round 8400 sq km and a mean ice thickness of greater than 900 m, Vatnajökull is the most important glacier in Europe.
The white, round patch within the centre is Hofsjökull, the nation’s third largest glacier and its largest lively volcano. The elongated white space west of Hofsjökull is Langjökull, Iceland’s second largest ice cap.
Water our bodies resembling rivers and glacial lakes seem as emerald inexperienced shapes scattered across the island. The color is because of sediment within the water, which then flows into the ocean, dyeing its darkish blue waters in hues of inexperienced seen alongside the coasts.
At top-left, gentle blue swirls are seen within the sea off the coast of Greenland. These are small sea-ice fragments blown by the wind and ocean currents.
This picture was captured throughout an uncommon heatwave that hit Iceland from 13-22 Might 2025. On 17 Might, Sentinel-3 was additionally capable of acquire an correct picture of the land floor temperature, utilizing information from the mission’s Sea and Land Floor Temperature Radiometer instrument.
