May 28, 2012 - Iceland

Iceland

Iceland was encircled by a halo of cloud on May 20, 2012, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the snow-capped land in late springtime.

Situated close to the Arctic Circle and about midway between New York and Moscow, Iceland is the second largest island in Europe, with a total area of 103,000 square miles. The interior of the island is made up of mountains and high plateaus, with an average height about 500 m (1,640 feet) above sea level. The highest point in Iceland is Hvannadalshnúkur in the Öræfajökull glacier in south east Iceland, with a peak elevation of m (6,950 feet).

Although the interior of the island is uninhabited, the capital city, Reykjavík and the surrounding Greater Reykjavík Area has a population of over 200,000 people. The city is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay. The city can be seen as a gray smudge on the northern edge of the greening peninsula in southwestern section of Iceland.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/20/2012
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC