November 30, 2015 - Island of Hokkaido

Island of Hokkaido

The island of Hokkaido is Japan’s most northerly island, and its landmass comprises 22% of the country. It size is comparable to that of Austria or about twice the size of Switzerland. It is bounded on the northeast by the Sea of Okhotsk, on the west by the Sea of Japan and to the east by the Pacific Ocean.

Hokkaido is relatively lightly populated, according to the 2010 National Census. The population was counted at over 5.5 million people, which is approximately 4.3% of Japan’s total population. The largest city, Sapporo, is home to about 1.9 million people. Sapporo can be seen as a large area of gray pixels inland from the U-shaped Ishikari Bay on the southwest side of the island.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image of Hokkaido on November 4, 2015.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 11/4/2015
Resolutions: 1km (947.4 KB), 500m (3.7 MB), 250m (8.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC