The Alps

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Thursday, 30 August 2007, 06:03 CDT Download full size image

The Alps are a mountain range that runs through Europe, stretching from Austria in the east, to France in the west. Sprinkled with snow, the Alps are fairly easy to pick out in this image, captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite on August 5, 2007. They surround the northern border of Italy, which is the peninsula extending towards the bottom of the image.

There are many countries visible in this image. Counter clockwise from the bottom right are, Bosnia & Herznogovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and France. Black lines denote the country borders.

There are several large lakes visible in this image. Lake Geneva is in the west, on the border of France and Switzerland. The Bodensee is on the eastern border of Switzerland with Germany. In central Switzerland, in the Alps, is a lake that looks slightly greener than the others. This is where Interlaken is, between the Brienzer See and Thuner See.

On the other side of the Alps from Interlaken, in Italy, are two wishbone shaped lakes - Lake Maggiore and Lake Como. Lake Como is slightly hidden by small clouds. Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy, is further west.

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