Close-up of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela

Credit: Credit: NASA, Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2003, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

This false-color (near-infrared, red, green) image of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, has been processed to emphasize details on the lake’s surface. The scene shows oil slicks (the various dark patches) in the southeastern portion of the lake on January 20, 2003. The slicks come from leaks in the various oil production and storage platforms located on Lake Maracaibo. Venezuela is the largest oil producing nation in the Western Hemisphere.

This image was produced using data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) flying aboard NASA’s Terra satellite. The scene uses the sensor’s near-infrared, red, and green bands (3, 2, and 1), which were then “stretched” to highlight the contrast of the oil slicks with the unpolluted water.

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