October 2, 2015 - Newfoundland

Newfoundland

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a beautifully clear true-color image of Newfoundland on the last day of summer, September 22, 2015.

The rugged beauty of Canada’s large northern island can be seen even from space, with the greens of the boreal forest juxtaposed with the dark tans of the exposed ancient rocks and enhanced by the deep blue waters of fjords, rivers and lakes. Mainland Canada lies to northwest, separated from Newfoundland by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while the Cabot Strait separates the island from Cape Breton Island, seen in the southwest. The jewel tones staining the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean mark a large bloom of phytoplankton – tiny plant-like organisms that multiply in huge numbers in this region each summer.

The island measures 111,390 square kilometers (43,008 square miles) in size and the capital city, St. John’s lies on the same latitude as Seattle, Washington and Paris, France. St. John’s is decidedly smaller than those two other notable cities, however. In 2014, Paris had a population of 2,241,346 people and Seattle’s population was 514,710. St. John’s was home to 211,724 people that same year. St. John’s is located near the northeast tip of the Avalon Peninsula. This peninsula sits in southeast Newfoundland and is connected to the main island by a thin, 3.1 mi (5 km) wide stretch of land known as the Isthmus of Avalon.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 9/22/2015
Resolutions: 1km (102.2 KB), 500m (381.3 KB), 250m (1015.2 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC