June 16th, 2010 Category: Snapshots

Denmark - April 14th, 2010

This image focuses on Denmark, located in north-central Europe. Also visible are Sweden and Norway to the North, as well as Germany and the Netherlands to the South.

Denmark has an area of 16,640 sq mi (43,098 sq km). Its territory includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which are self-governing dependencies. The country’s population (2009 est.) is about 5,523,000, and the capital is Copenhagen.

Lying between the North and Baltic seas, Denmark occupies the Jutland peninsula and an archipelago to its east. The two largest islands, Zealand (Sjælland) and Funen (Fyn), together make up about one-fourth of the country’s total land area. Denmark also has a 4,500-mi (7,300-km) coastline.

Tags: Baltic Sea Copenhagen Denmark Funen Fyn Germany Holland Jutland Peninsula Netherlands North Sea Norway Sjælland Sweden Zealand |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

June 4th, 2010 Category: Phytoplankton

Denmark, Norway and Sweden - June 2nd, 2010

A phytoplankton bloom gives a greenish tinge to the waters of the North Sea between Denmark’s Jutland Peninsula and the southern coasts of Norway and Sweden. The North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf.

It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of around 750,000 square kilometres (290,000 sq mi). A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea.

Tags: Atlantic Ocean Denmark Europe Jutland Peninsula North Sea Norway Phytoplankton Sweden |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

May 31st, 2010 Category: Image of the day, Lakes

Netherlands - April 18th, 2010

Several bodies of water are visible near the coast of the Netherlands: the Markermeer (bright green), the IJsselmeer (dark blue) and the Wadden Sea (green, closest to the open ocean).

The Markermeer is a 700 km² lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland and its larger sibling, the IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at some 3 to 5 m in depth, it is named after the small former island, now peninsula, of Marken that lies within it.

IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling: Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. It is named after the IJssel river that drains into it via a smaller lake, the Ketelmeer. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe.

The Wadden Sea (Dutch: Waddenzee) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands.

Tags: Europe Flevoland Friesland Frisian Islands Holland IJsselmeer Ketelmeer Lake Yssel Lakes Markermeer Netherlands North Holland North Sea Wadden Sea Waddenzee Wetlands |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

May 25th, 2010 Category: Rivers, Sediments

Germany - April 28th, 2010

The Elbe River can be seen spilling sediments into the North Sea, off the shores of Germany at the base of the Jutland Peninsula. It is 724 mi (1,165 km) long and connected by canals with the Baltic Sea, the Havel River and Berlin, the Ruhr industrial region, and the Rhine River.

One of the continent’s major waterways, it rises in the Krkonoše (Giant) Mountains on the border of the Czech Republic and Poland and flows southwest across Bohemia. It then flows northwest across Germany and empties into the North Sea near Cuxhaven. From 1945 to 1990 it formed part of the boundary between East and West Germany.

Tags: Cuxhaven Elbe River Europe Germany Jutland Peninsula North Sea Sediments |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

May 20th, 2010 Category: Image of the day, Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton Off European Shores - May 19th, 2010

Phytoplankton in Bay of Biscay

Phytoplankton in North Sea

Green and blue phytoplankton blooms are visible off the coast of Europe, in the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay. Such blooms are not unusual at this time of year in these locations.

The detail of the Bay of Biscay shows the swirled pattern of the blue bloom situated between the French and Spanish shorelines.

The bloom in the North Sea is visible off the coast of Denmark, south of Norway. The close-up image of this area shows phytoplankton and sediments between England and the Netherlands.

The different colors in the blooms are probably due to different species of phytoplankton. A darker green color is caused by green chlorophyll, while lighter blue hues may indicate a phytoplankton species known as coccolithophores, which produce a type of calcite.

Tags: Bay of Biscay England Europe France Netherlands North Sea Norway Phytoplankton Spain UK |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

February 6th, 2010 Category: Image of the day

Denmark - January 25th, 2010

Islands

Denmark and its islands, as well as parts of northern Germany (below) and southern Sweden (upper right corner), appear dusted with snow in this image taken during the northern hemisphere winter.

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany.

Denmark shares a border of 68 kilometres with Germany to the south and is otherwise surrounded by 7,314 kilometres of coastline. It occupies 43,094 square kilometres. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea.

The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland (upper left) and many islands, most notably Zealand (offshore of Sweden), Funen (center, offshore of Jutland), Vendsyssel-Thy, Lolland (below Zealand, closer to Germany), Falster (between Lolland and Zealand) and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. All of these islands are best observed in the close-up.

Tags: Baltic Sea Bornholm Danish Archipelago Denmark Europe Falster Funen Germany Jutland Peninsula Lolland Nordic Countries North Sea Scandinavia Sweden Vendsyssel-Thy Zealand |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

February 1st, 2010 Category: Rivers

Germany - December 31st, 2009

The Jade Estuary, Jadebusen in German, is a bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as Jade or Jahde. The Jade is a part of the German Wadden Sea National Parks. The port of Wilhelmshaven is on the western shore of the bay.

About 180 km² (70 mi²) in area, the Jade was largely created by storm floods during the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. During this period it was connected in the East to the river Weser (running from the bottom right corner towards the image center). This connection was closed between 1721 and 1725 by dikes reconnecting Butjadingen to the mainland as a peninsula.

In the West the Jade extended far into the Frisian peninsula. From the early sixteenth century a number of dikes were built against the storm floods and to arable land. The main dike, Ellenser Damm, was built between 1596 and 1615 based on an agreement between the principalities of East Frisia and Oldenburg.

Tags: ASAR Ellenser Damm Europe Frisian Peninsula Germany Jade Estuary North Sea Wadden Sea Wadden Sea National Parks Weser River Wilhelmshaven |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

January 26th, 2010 Category: Snapshots

Denmark - December 31st, 2009

The west coast of the Jutland Peninsula, along the Wadden Sea, is marked by many inlets and nearby islands. Of particular interest is the T-shaped island of Sylt, below center. An imaginary line running from the island eastward across the peninsula would delineate the border between the countries of Denmark (above) and Germany (below).

Sylt, belonging to Germany’s North Frisian Islands, is well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. With 99.14 km², Sylt is the fourth-largest German island and the largest North Sea island. Sylt is situated at 9 to 16 km off the mainland.

The island’s shape has constantly shifted over time, a process which is still ongoing today. It is frequently covered by the media in connection with its exposed situation in the North Sea and its ongoing loss of land during storm tides.

Today, Sylt extends for 38 km in a north-south direction and on its northern peak at Königshafen is only 320 m wide. Its widest distance, from the town of Westerland in the west to the eastern Nössespitze near Morsum, measures 12.6 km. On the western and northwestern shore a 40 km sand beach is located. Much of the Wadden Sea east of Sylt belongs to the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and mostly falls dry during low tide.

Tags: ASAR Denmark Germany Jutland Peninula North Sea Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park Sylt Wadden Sea |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment

November 15th, 2009 Category: Rivers

Germany - October 22nd, 2009

Flowing upwards from the bottom right, the Weser River empties into the North Sea off the coast of Germany. To its right is another rivermouth, that of the Elbe, and to its left is the Jade Estuary, a bay known as Jadebusen in German.

About 180 km² (70 mi²) in area, the Jade was largely created by storm floods during the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. During this period it was connected in the East to the river Weser. This connection was closed between 1721 and 1725 by dikes reconnecting Butjadingen to the mainland as a peninsula.

The 452 km long Weser River passes by the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport. On the opposite (west) bank is the town of Nordenham at the foot of the Butjadingen Peninsula. It is the longest German river whose course lies entirely in German territory to reach the sea.

Tags: ASAR Bremen Bremerhaven Butjadingen Peninsula Europe Germany Jade Estuary Jadebusen Nordenham North Sea River Elbe Weser River |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | | Leave a comment