August 27, 2019 - United Kingdom and the North Sea

The United Kingdom sits in Western Europe between the Atlantic Ocean (west) and the North Sea. The English Channel separates the large island of Great Britain from France. England comprises 53% of the United Kingdom; Scotland, which sits on the northern tip of Great Britain, 32%; Wales, sitting in the west of Great Britain, 9%; and Northern Ireland, which comprises the northern tip of the island of Ireland, comprises 6%. The United Kingdom also includes Rocktail and the Shetland Islands, which belong to Scotland. Twice the size of Pennsylvania and slightly smaller than the state of Oregon, the UK has a total land area of 241,930 square kilometers (93,410 sq. mi) and claims 1,680 square kilometers (689 sq. mi.) of sea.

On August 25, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the United Kingdom and part of the North Sea surrounded by cloud. Ireland is shrouded under a large bank of heavy cloud, except for Northern Ireland. A thinner bank of low cloud (fog) hangs over the North Sea.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 8/25/2019
Resolutions: 1km (1 MB), 500m (2.9 MB), 250m (2.3 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC