Earth from Space: Florida

Earth from Space is presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web-TV virtual studios. In the one hundred forty-first edition, explore the US state of Florida.

See also http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Imag... to download the image.

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Closed Caption:

Hi I'm Kelsea Brennan-Wessels
and welcome back to Earth from Space
on the European Space Agency Web TV.
Part of the US state of Florida
is pictured in this image
from the Sentinel-1A satellite.
The peninsula sits between the Gulf of Mexico
to the west,
and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.
The large body of water at the top of the
image
is the freshwater Lake Okeechobee.
Covering about 1900 sq km,
the lake is very shallow with a maximum depth
of about 4 m.
Across the land area we can see geometric
patterns
of agriculture and infrastructure,
while the very lower section of the image
shows part of the Everglades National Park.
The Everglades are the United States’ largest
sub-tropical wilderness,
originally covering some 10 000 sq km.
This area features shallow, slow-moving water
and is abundant in a plant called sawgrass
that becomes so thick it makes the water barely
visible,
earning the Everglades the nickname ‘River
of Grass’.
Home to diverse plant and animal life,
including alligator, crocodile, Florida panther
and manatees,
the Everglades have been designated
a Wetland of International Importance by the
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,
a World Heritage Site and an International
Biosphere Reserve by the UN.
Other notable locations visible in this image
include the cities Miami,
in the lower right, and Fort Myers on the
left.
This image was captured on 13 November 2014
by Sentinel-1A’s radar in Interferometric
Wide swath mode.
This is the default mode over land,
and has a swath width of 250 km and a ground
resolution of 5 x 20 m.
The image was also acquired in ‘dual polarisation’
horizontal and vertical radar pulses,
from which the artificial colour composite
was generated.
And that brings us to the end of this edition
of Earth from Space.
Remember that we broadcast online every Friday
at ten o'clock Central European Summer Time.
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From the ESA Web TV studios, have a nice day.