File:Radar image of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia ESA14511855.jpeg
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
![File:Radar image of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia ESA14511855.jpeg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Radar_image_of_the_Salar_de_Uyuni%2C_Bolivia_ESA14511855.jpeg/800px-Radar_image_of_the_Salar_de_Uyuni%2C_Bolivia_ESA14511855.jpeg?20200611214501)
Size of this preview: 800 × 560 pixels. Other resolutions: 320 × 224 pixels | 640 × 448 pixels | 1,024 × 716 pixels | 1,280 × 895 pixels | 1,920 × 1,343 pixels.
Original file (1,920 × 1,343 pixels, file size: 2.03 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
File information
Structured data
Captions
Captions
Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents
Summary
[edit]DescriptionRadar image of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia ESA14511855.jpeg |
English: This radar image is one of the first from the Sentinel-1A satellite, acquired on 20 April – less than three weeks after its launch on 3 April. The image shows the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, which is the largest salt flat in the world. Occupying over 10 000 sq km, the vast Salar de Uyuni lies at the southern end of the Altiplano, a high plain of inland drainage in the central Andes. Some 40 000 years ago, this area was part of a giant prehistoric lake that dried out, leaving behind the salt flat. While the salt flat appears an almost homogenous white in optical satellite imagery, here we see it in shades of grey, and it looks almost like a lake. This has to do with how the radar signal reacts to different surfaces: areas where the radar signal is absorbed appear darker, while areas where the signal is reflected back to the satellite appear lighter. This gives Earth observation experts an indication of how rough or smooth the surfaces area, differences in salt density or even the presence of water. But on the whole, the Salar de Uyuni is very flat, with a surface elevation variation of less than 1 m. This makes the area ideal for calibrating satellite radar altimeters – a different kind of radar instrument that measures surface topography. The future Sentinel-3 mission will carry a radar altimeter. The surrounding terrain is rough in comparison to the vast salt flat and is dominated by the volcanoes of the Andes mountains forming part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Sentinel-1A is the first in the two-satellite Sentinel-1 mission for Europe’s Copernicus programme. Its radar data will be used for a variety of applications, including the surveillance of the marine environment, monitoring land-surface for motion risks, mapping for forest, water and soil management, and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations. This image is featured on the Earth from Space video programme. |
Date | 9 May 2014 (upload date) |
Source | Radar image of the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia |
Author | European Space Agency |
Other versions |
|
Activity InfoField | Observing the Earth |
Keyword InfoField | Satellite image Radar data Radar Images Salty crust |
Location InfoField | Bolivia |
Mission InfoField | Sentinel-1 |
Set InfoField | Earth observation image of the week |
System InfoField | Copernicus |
Licensing
[edit]![]() |
This media was created by the European Space Agency (ESA).
Where expressly so stated, images or videos are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence, ESA being an Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO), as defined by the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence. The user is allowed under the terms and conditions of the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO license to Reproduce, Distribute and Publicly Perform the ESA images and videos released under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence and the Adaptations thereof, without further explicit permission being necessary, for as long as the user complies with the conditions and restrictions set forth in the CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO licence, these including that:
See the ESA Creative Commons copyright notice for complete information, and this article for additional details.
|
![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license. Attribution: ESA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
![]() |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 21:45, 11 June 2020 | ![]() | 1,920 × 1,343 (2.03 MB) | OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs) | #Spacemedia - Upload of https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/05/radar_image_of_the_salar_de_uyuni_bolivia/14511846-1-eng-GB/Radar_image_of_the_Salar_de_Uyuni_Bolivia.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
The following page uses this file:
Metadata
This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.
Unique ID of original document | xmp.did:16A9A087E4D4E3119B5BDC698D1CD31D |
---|---|
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh) |