Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa have been the cultural center of Western Civilization since the eras of the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks, the Romans, and various empires and lands up to and after the Renaissance. Iceland is considered to be within the sphere of Europe, so we begin there. For most traveling from the U.S. to European centers of our Western roots and culture, a full tour begins in Ireland and ends to the east at Moscow. The majority of the continent is moderately vegetated - much land has been cultivated now but forests remain.
(Note: Some of the images below were provided by ESA's Eduspace. Additional images can be found at their Eduspace links site.
It may come as a surprise to learn that many geographers consider Iceland to be a part of an extended Europe. It was settled by Europeans centuries ago and still has Danish roots. But, geologically, Iceland lies at the boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. It sits atop one of the few places where the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent spreading zone of volcanic origin, extends over a wide area above the sea surface. Take a look at this satellite image taken in summer when the winter snow have melted (but some of the white is a permanent icecap, shown again on page 17-5).
Iceland has become a popular place for tourist visits. The Icelandic nation has a population of about 330,000 people. Its capital is Reykjavik, on its southwestern shores. Here is an ASTER image along with an aerial photo:
In a sense, this next image also belongs to Europe. The Canary Islands are a part of Spain but lie in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco. The island of Tenerife is built as a volcano (called Teide) rising as an offshoot of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is seen here as a SIR-C image:
Another volcanic island on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is St. Helena, shown here in an astronaut photo from the International Space Station. St. Helena was the British island where Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I was sent by the European allies into exile following his defeat in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. He remained on this bleak landscape until his death in 1821.
Now to Europe proper.
Most of us are familiar with the shape of Europe and its surrounding regions from our geography lessons since our grade school days. Now here is what that continent (continuous with, but arbitrarily separated from, Asia) looks like as seen in a physiographic map (greens imply significant vegetation; browns could either mean less vegetation, as in Russia, or, in Africa, desertlike conditions):
Here is an up to date map of Europe that shows the countries from the British Isles to Russia.
To assist those who are not too familiar with the locations of Europe's major cities, we provide this map:
As we might cross the Atlantic Ocean in a spaceship, the first land we might see if enroute to, say, London is the British Isles. Here is a satellite view, looking east (top), of these great islands (Britain-Scotland-Wales and Ireland), with the continental coastline from about Normandy to southern Norway:
Ireland, the "Emerald Isle" so dear to every Irishman, has been colored green in this next scene by projecting the TM Band 4 image through a green filter. The upper eastern part of the island is Northern Ireland, at the end of the Belfast Lough (actually, a marine bay). The large inland lake to the west is Lough Neagh. In this June image, late spring, the Irish countryside is truly a rich green almost everywhere. The Republic of Ireland occupies the larger part of the land. Its capital, Dublin, is here covered with clouds, on the coast just below center right. The large island in the Irish Sea is the Isle of Man. The jutting land peninsula in center top is the tip of the Scottish mainland, at the Mull of Galloway. The above image is much like one produced from SRTM radar data used to determine elevation. Low areas (central valleys) appear in green; higher, more hilly to mountainous terrain are in shades of brown:
A bit of the charm of Ireland appears in this photo of Clifden, a resort town on the west coast in County Galway:
Dublin on the Irish east coast is quite familiar to American Irish who journey back to the land of their forekin. Here is Dublin as seen by SIR-C radar (Section 8):
And the center city as seen by SPOT:
And here it is "up close and personal", looking down O'Connell Street, the city's main thoroughfare:
Ireland has always been a favorite destination for Americans, many of Irish ancestry and others who seek its enchantment as tourists. A must-see is the rugged west coast of the Republic of Ireland. A favorite of most visitors is the Ring of Kerry, which follows the coastline around the Iveragh Peninsula, in County Kerry. We accessed the Ring through the charming town of Killarney. This SIR-C radar image shows the entire Peninsula, with a hint of the hilly terrain that marks its interior:
One of the great cities of the world is London, shown here in this scene that covers part of southeast England. The Thames Estuary is conspicuous. The countryside, in this March 1973 image, has just begun to "green up" as field crops and grasslands resume growth. Besides greater London (blue, near center), other well known smaller cities, among them Oxford and Reading, are hard to discern. The dark, vegetation-poor area in the upper right is East Anglia, whose rocky soils inhibit extensive farming. Through London itself passes the Prime Meridian (0°) for the global latitude-longitude coordinate system.
This ASTER image zeroes in on Greater London and surrounding countryside. The Parliament area shown two images down is near the center. The green areas to the west are St. James Park and Hyde Park.
This annotated astronaut photo taken from the International Space Station shows many of the famed landmarks within the central city.
Americans feel a special kinship with England, despite our revolt against our "Motherland", its monarchy system, and unrepresented TAXES. But England's Kings and Queens remain through today. Here is the London home of royalty, Buckingham Palace, as seen by an OrbImage satellite:
London's fame and its tie to Americans' heritage will prompt us to spend a bit more time in looking at some of its landmarks. Greater London's area is among the largest in Europe. The image most of us conjure up when asked to visualize London will include the Parliament Building and Big Ben.
The Quickbird satellite has taken high resolution images of the Parliament buildings, the nearby bridge across the Thames, and the Jubilee Park rededicated in 2000 (Millenium Park) with its huge Ferris Wheel (400 ft high) known as the London Eye.
An enlargement, taken at another time, shows both the Parliament buildings and the great Wheel in a different orientation than above. Much of the same area seen in these two space images is identified in this map: See if you can find the following in the images: Parliament buildings and Westminster Abbey; St. James Park; Waterloo Station; Charing Cross Station; Her Majesty's Treasury; St. Thomas Hospital. We show below a photo of perhaps the visual symbol of London, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings: Beyond the Thames and the government buildings, present day London is acquiring a modern look, with tall buildings (but few skyscrapers). Some tall buildings noted on the north side of the Thames in the space imagery take on a somewhat different perspective when seen in this color aerial oblique photo: Much of southern England is rural. Here is a Landsat image of Kent, at the southeast tip of Great Britain: Two of the largest cities in England are Manchester and Liverpool, seen here in big versions (hopefully, to allow labeling to be read) of Google Earth images:
In western Scotland are the Scottish Highlands, low mountains that experience glaciation. In the history of modern Geology, this is a famous region where many of the 19th Century concepts about metamorphism were developed. The Highlands are divided by the Great Glen Fault, a dextral strike-slip fault (west side has moved southward) around which the west block moved about 100 km southward. The fault localizes valleys and lakes, the most famed of which is Loch Ness (guess who lives in it?) at the north end. Here is a Landsat subscene showing the fault and the Highlands (Grampian Mts. at bottom center and Northern Highland in upper left):
The mountains west of Loch Ness were once part of the present North American crustal block whereas those to the east belong to the Eurasian block. These blocks came together about 400,000,000 years ago as a supercontinent that has since split apart. The Great Glen fault is of that age. The fault itself is a zone of weakness where a river carved out a valley that was occupied by glaciers as late as 10000 years ago. Glacial deposits blocked the northern outlet causing the post-glacial runoff to collect into the deep Loch Ness. Here is another view from space together with an aerial view of the south end:
In the western Highlands is the large Ardnamurchan Peninula, where the concept of a "ring dike complex" was first developed. Here is the area from space:
The capital city of Scotland, the upper half of the British Isles, is Edinburgh (pronounced "Ed-in-bruh locally but "Ed-in-buro" by Americans). This is an ERS-SAR view, somewhat enlarged. Note the blackish blotch at the bottom center. That is the famed "Arthur's Seat", which was a key aid to the Scot James Hutton who is credited as the one who laid the foundation of modern Geology.
Less colorful but also informative is this Landsat image of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth:
The old city of Edinburgh has a low skyline. Its wide streets help to make it an especially attractive city. Here is a view:
Across the North Sea from England and Scotland lies the northwestern part of the Netherlands, or Holland. The scene below reveals one of the great engineering feats by any nation. Much of the land was once under water or has been created by backfill. The great inland bodies of water were known as the Zuider Zee after they enlarged following breaches in the 13th century of the line of present day barrier islands known as the West Frisian Islands. In 1932 a 25 km (16 mile) barrier dam was completed to divide this water into the Wadden Zee (north) and Ijssell Meer (south). The change in flow facilitated drainage that reclaimed landmasses such as Flevoland, known as polders; these show up a bluish-gray areas. Some of the many Dutch canals are visible. Amsterdam, Holland’s largest city (in blue tones, near bottom center), lies along a major canal to the sea at the bottom of the silty Meer.
This Envisat image shows Amsterdam near the top and Europe's largest port, Rotterdam, in the lower left:
This Landsat subscene provides a closer look at Amsterdam and the surrounding countryside
Look at the inner city, shown as a series of semi-circles. The map reveals their identity
Amsterdam is a city of canals and travel by boat is common, but bicycles as well as cars are also much used.
Amsterdam and some other parts of Holland are on reclaimed land. Seawall dikes protect these areas, some being below sealevel. Two other cities in Holland are well known - Rotterdam (on one of the distributaries at the mouth of the Rhein) and the Hague (Gravenhage):
The capital of Belgium (and Headquarters of NATO) is Brussels, seen first in a Landsat image and then by SPOT:
Nestled among Belgium, Germany, and France is the Duchy of Luxembourg, a small independent country. Here is a view obtained by the SPOT satellite:
France has long been a major, generally stable part of Europe. Here is the entire country as seen in a satellite mosaic; below it is a map of the provinces of France (equivalent to the states in America):
The queen city of Europe - in terms of beauty - is Paris, France. We have already taken a thorough visual tour of Paris on page 4-4, which you can check out as a refresher. As a reminder, here is a SPOT image of the City of Lights. Then we will show some other images of France:
First we examine a very famous area off the English Channel - the beaches of Normandy, the scene of the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944 (see the movie "The Longest Day"), and part of the Cherbourg Peninsula:
This is a map of the five landing beaches and a satellite strip showing Omaha and Utah beaches (both attacked by American troops):
This next photo can be labeled "What was Eisenhower thinking when this was chosen?" It shows the cliffs at Omaha Beach and remnants of fortifications on the flat land above.
Aside from Paris, there are few really large cities in the French interior. One of the smaller is Clermont-Ferrand on the Allier River which passes through the Auvergne:
One of France's largest cities is Bordeaux near the Atlantic in the southwestern region. The city lies near the Garonne estuary, long and sheltered, which makes up an ideal protected area that gives this region port status:
Lyon is another major French city, shown here in a SPOT image:
Part of the Alps extends into France. The alpine city of Grenoble is seen in this Landsat image:
Next, we traipse southward to the Mediterranean. Here is much of the French Riviera, with Toulon on the left and St. Tropez and Cannes further east:
A closer look shows Toulon in the center of the shoreline in this image and Marseilles at the left edge.
Then, we go offshore to the French island of Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte:
Heading next into Scandinavia, the island of Zealand (Sjaelland) in Denmark dominates the next image. Copenhagen, that country’s capital, is the dark blackish area at it upper right (east) end. A narrow strait, the Ore Sund, separates this part of Denmark from southern Sweden; Malmo, one of that country’s larger cities, appears as another black spot. Farming dominates the land use in these sections of both nations, principal crops being wheat, potatoes, and animal fodder. In Sweden, the reddish area is a forested region known as the Smaland Plateau.
From space Copenhagen (Copenhavn), Denmark's capital, looks like this in two SPOT images, at different spatial resolutions:
The next two photos show first much of the inner city of Copenhagen (which has about 2 million inhabitants) and a close look at the famed Tivoli Gardens, an "amusement park" where the writer (NMS) attended a lavish banquet during the 1960 International Geological Conference:
Copenhagen is at the shore of the Baltic where a strait (Oresund Sound) separates Denmark from Sweden which is only 4 km wide at its narrowest. In 2000 a bridge some 16 km in segmented length joined the Danish island of Zealand with Sweden at the city of Malmo:
In principle, one could start an auto journey in Vladavostok in eastern Siberia, travel all the way across Asia, then into Europe by bridge in Istanbul, drive through Europe, then into Scandinavia at Malmo, thence to the Arctic circle in Norway, a continuous journey well in excess of 15000 km (10000 miles).
While we are presently in Scandinavia, lets look at three more capital cities. First is Oslo, Norway, seen here as a small blue patch at the end of a Baltic Sea inlet in this Landsat-2 subscene:
This is Oslo, as approached from the Baltic Sea; the city has a distinct atmosphere of being a large, friendly "town".
This ESA's ERS-SAR close-up of Oslo gives a better sense of the low hilly topography around the city (white):
Oslo is a relatively small city (population about 750000) nestled in low mountains (the high mountains of Norway, with their fjords, are to the west). This view of the town was taken looking west from the Eckeberg Restaurant where the writer (NMS) had lunch in 1960 with the famed Russian geologist V.V. Beluossov.
But the wonder of Oslo is not its views. Near the heart of the city is a park containing dozens of statues made of bronze or granite. These were all cast or carved by one man - Gustav Vigeland - in the first half of the 20th Century. The theme is "Man - from the Cradle to the Grave". Here is just one example of these wonderous sculptures:
The west coast of Norway is famed for its rugged scenery and jagged coastline. Much of this is due to Pleistocene sculpturing of stream valleys coming off mountains by glaciers. The glaciers deepened the valleys, which flooded as sea level rose in the last 10000 years. The submerged valleys, with steep-walled sides, produce the fjords, some of which can be 100s of meters deep. This image of Norway's coastline was made by the MISR sensor on Terra:
Let's go east for a look at the inner city harbor of Stockholm, Sweden as seen by Landsat and by SPOT-5, and then the equivalent area from an aerial oblique photo.
The fourth capital - Helsinki, Finland - lies along the eastern Baltic coast:
Germany has been a pivotal European nation (although that status only happened in the 19th century (1871); prior to that, especially during the 900 or so years of the Holy Roman Empire [962 A.D.] it was a loose collection of Duchys, Kingdoms, Principalities, and Free Cities) for much of modern history. Below is a satellite mosaic of Germany as reconstituted in 1992 when East and West Germany reunited; the principal states of Germany are shown in a map beneath the mosaic:
The industrial heartland of Germany, so vital to Deutschland in World War II, dominates this next image. The famed Rhine River runs through the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Numerous blotches of dark bluish-black mark the locations of many large cities (use an Atlas to pin these down). Along the Rhine are Bonn, Cologne, and Dusseldorf. The smaller Ruhr River, coming from the East, makes up the Ruhr Valley, with such cities as Mulheim, Essen, Bochum, and Dortmund whose steel and industrial works were the targets of many bombing raids by the Allies during World War 2. Much of the countryside is part of the North German Plains, where farming is the principal activity. The forested Central Uplands to the east blends into the Rothaar Gebirge. Small parts of Belgium and Holland lie along the left edge of the image.
The four principal cities of the Ruhr are located on the map below, along with a ground photo that hints at the widespread industrialization of this Valley:
Upstream - to the south - on the Rhine are important cities such as Bonn, Frankfurt, and Wiesbaden. Another is Cologne (Köln), a very old city - it was founded by Emperor Claudius' wife Agrippa in the 3rd century - that has been an important center for shipping and industry in modern Germany. Here is a SPOT-1 pan cam 10 meter resolution image of Cologne (yes, the perfume originated there), and an aerial view beneath it.
Dominating Cologne is its great Gothic cathedral (Dom), started in 1248 A.D., that is the largest in Germany. Here is an IKONOS view that includes the cathedral:
Cologne was destroyed by Allied bombers in World War II, but U.S. airmen took special pains to avoid hitting the cathedral. This picture shows the devastation:
Even more destruction leveled the city of Dresden, on the Elbe River. One terrible night saw massive firebombing that incinerated most of the city. But, like most such calamities in the cities of Germany, Dresden has been almost completely rebuilt (both with modern new buildings and with reconstruction of ancient and medieval landmarks). Here is an Envisat image of Dresden and other cities on the Elbe River; below it is a Radarsat image of today's Dresden; then an IKONOS image of central Dresden:
Both the Dresden scene and that of Berlin, to be looked at next, point to something considered to be a land cover signature of Germany, and to a lesser degree, several other European countries. Look again at the Envisat image and note the many irregular polygons that have a medium-dark brownish color. Early in my experience with Landsat I noted the same distinctive signature and attributed it then to large stands of natural forest land. This false color subscene shows such a feature in more detail:
Here the polygons appear to be a mix of deciduous trees, possible small lakes, and whatever else is contributing to the "blackness". This last may be dark evergreens, but the interpretation is inconclusive. It seems surprising that so much of the land would still be forested inasmuch as the Central European countries have large populations. But many decades ago, the Germans undertook a massive reforestation program to counter the downcutting of most of the medieval forests that served to provide firewood. I'm guessing, but think I'm right; on my first day in Germany in 1960 I took a lengthy walk through such a woodlands (whose pathways were frequented by cyclists and native pedestrians).
So, we would like to add Berlin to our display of European capitals. An Envisat image does include this famous city, as a pink patch in the lower right, in a wide field image that covers much of northern Germany, eastern Denmark, and southern Sweden.
An ERS SAR image affords a closer look:
This natural color ASTER image establishes the setting of Berlin within its countryside.
Another ASTER image shows the heart of Berlin:
But Germany is also noted for its picturesque towns and small cities. Among the most famed is Wittenberg, on the Elbe in north central Germany. It was here that Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 nailed his 95 theses to the castle church of All Saints, setting into motion what became known as the Protestant Reformation. As seen from space and on the ground:
Having looked at western and northern Europe, we now make a big leap to the southwestern part of the continent, specifically for a tour of the Ibernian Peninsula, shown here first in an ERS-1 image and a corresponding map of Spain.
The Iberian Peninsula joins the rest of Europe in southwestern France. The peninsular landmass crashed into the European block as part of a plate tectonics collision starting about 150 million years ago. The result was a mini-version of the crumpling of sedimentary rocks into the folded mountains of the Pyrenees:
Parts of the peninsula are semi-arid (light buff) whereas other parts are covered with more green vegetation, particularly those regions with higher elevations. Much of northern Spain is dry with rainfall commonly less than 30 cm (12 inches). In the next image, the wide Ebro Basin, drained by the Ebro River, forms arid lowlands in which most of the agriculture (cereals; sugar beets) is concentrated along that river, tributaries, and irrigation ditches. Away from these farms, sheep grazing is conducted where grasses grow. The city of Zaragosa is evidenced by a blue patch in from the right center edge. Low blocks of hills and mountains run northwest through the picture. The southern edge of the Sierra de Guara, which rises to more than 2000 m (6000 ft), is at the top.
Barcelona is the biggest city in eastern Spain. It sits astride the Mediterranean, as evident in this Landsat image:
Vegetation increases somewhat as one moves into central Spain in the region known as the Meseta (a plateau). This C-Band SRTM radar images shows Madrid and its surroundings:
This March 7, 1973 Landsat-1 image of central Spain shows the capital, Madrid (dark blue-black) to the west of the Tagus River. To its west is the Sierra de Guadarrama, wooded and high enough to have snow in the part that reaches 2400 m (8000 ft).
Madrid itself is shown in more detail in this Landsat-7 subscene.
The Palacio Real, the national palace now occupied by King Juan Carlos, is shown first in an IKONOS 2 m black and white image, and then in an aerial oblique view.
Granada, in Andalusia, is one of Europe's most charming cities. It lies against the snow-capped Sierra Nevada (mountains). Expanded during the Moorish occupation, the city is dominated by the Alhambra, seen along the skyline in the aerial view:
Southwest of Madrid is the city of Seville (locale for George Bizet's opera "Carmen"). Here is part of Seville as displayed in this Google Earth image:
On the western side of the Iberian Peninsula is Portugal, whose capital is Lisbon. It lies on the northwest side of a bay created by the Rio de Tejo (Tagus River). This area is shown first as a Landsat-4 subscene and then as an ERS SAR scene.
The tip of Europe at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea is the English Colony at Gibraltar, next to Spain. Across the Straits of Gibraltar lies Tangiers in Morocco. This European Space Agency image looks eastward.
(Europe continues on the next page.)
