Earth from Space - Image Description

STS059-223-065 Southern Sweden April 1994
Southern Sweden, with its plethora of lakes, is visible in this west-looking, high-oblique photograph. The lakes were created when the continental glaciers scoured this area and then receded, allowing the countless depressions to fill with water. In addition to numerous smaller lakes that are generally aligned in a north-south orientation, two large lakes--larger Lake Vänern and Lake Vättern--can be seen toward the northern edge of the photograph. The dark green area inland from the coast is forested lands. A small part of the Baltic Sea is pictured off the southeast coast of Sweden, and the Skagerrak and Kattegat, the waterway entrance into the Baltic Sea, are shown off the southwest coast of Sweden. Although no specific details can be ascertained at this scale, the four main landforms of Denmark (viewing west to east)--a peninsula (Jylland) and three islands (Fyn, Sjelland, and Lolland)--can be seen along the southern edge of the photograph.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.