Earth from Space – Budapest, Hungary
Budapest, the capital and most populous city in Hungary, is visible in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
Budapest, which covers an area of around 525 sq km, lies at the centre of the Carpathian Basin, in central Hungary. In this image, captured on 28 July 2020, Budapest appears reddish in colour in the centre and the city is surrounded by green and beige coloured fields.
Budapest is divided from north to south by the Danube River, the second-longest river in Europe, and it can be seen meandering through the city. The river acts as a natural barrier dividing the city into Buda and Pest, with Buda being on the western, hillier side of the city and Pest on the eastern side.
Buda and Pest are connected by eight bridges, the oldest and best-known being the Széchenyi Chain Bridge which was built in the 1840s and named after István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction.
In the left of the image, the dark patch of greenery is the Normafa hilltop park mainly known for its panoramic scenery. Agricultural production is important to Hungary’s economy, with around 93 000 sq km of cultivated land covering around 50% of the country’s total area. Hungary’s most important crops include corn, wheat, barley, potatoes and sunflower seeds.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 is the first optical Earth observation mission of its kind to include three infrared bands in the ‘red edge’ part of the electromagnetic spectrum – which provides a more detailed view of the state of vegetation than what our eyes can see. This allows for Sentinel-2 to provide images that can be used to distinguish between different crop types as well as data on numerous plant indices, such as leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content and leaf water content – all of which are essential to accurately monitor plant growth.
