Iceland
Orbit 36600, Frame 1287, 20 April 2002, 23:08:43 GMT
The Southwest end of Iceland is the busiest place on this island.
The town of Reykjavik is well visible, marked by many bright
points, some of which are star-like.
This appearance is due to a very strong backscattered signal, caused
in this case by single houses with roofs which by chance
are perfectly perpendicular to the radar beam.
Well visible is also the airport in town, while the
international airport is in Keflavik, to the west
and outside the image. The morphology of the landscape is very
particular and especially in the lower part
aligned with the mid Atlantic Ridge, which has given
birth to this volcanic land. Some well-defined round lava fields
can be discovered near the south coast as well as
a perfect cone of a volcano in the top-right corner.
To the east is the Thingvalla Lake, which is of
high historical importance: in fact, the
location of Thingvellir at its northern shore
is where the state of Iceland's founding assembly took place.
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