NASA MODIS Image of the Day: May 31, 2011 – France
From the perspective of a poet, springtime in Paris appears as a time of sunshine, new green growth, bright flowers and budding romance.
From space, this late springtime day in France appears cloud-free, colored in various shades of green, and highlighted with accents of pure white.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite passed over the region and captured this true-color image on May 25, 2011. France has sometimes been called “the Hexagon” because of the geometric shape of its territory. Black borderlines have been overlaid on this image, so the outline of the country can be visualized. The following countries border France, starting from the northeast and moving clockwise: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Monaco. Also, Spain and the Principality of Andorra lie on the southern border. The capital city, Paris, appears as a dark gray circle ringed by patches of dark green in northern France, in the upper left quadrant of this image. The gray circle represents human habitation, with streets, buildings and lack of vegetation. The dark green patches are small forests retained within and near the city itself. The river Seine passes through Paris, and can be more easily seen at higher resolutions. To the southeast, the peaks of the Alps are covered with snow. From the southwest to the northeast, the Alps lie in the following countries: France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, peaks at 4,810.5 meters (15,782 feet) and is found on the border of France and Italy, just southeast of the crescent-shaped Lac Leman (Lake Geneva).
