The bright blue lagoon waters of Venice, Italy and its iconic canals stand out in this true-color satellite image.
What is it?
Have you ever seen the gondoliers of Venice pushing their gondolas through the canals, singing all the way? Well, if you zoom out all the way into orbit, this is what they look like.
This image, snapped by the European Space Agency's IRIDE satellite fleet back in May of this year, shows the Venetian Lagoon, a bay of the Adriatic Sea that encompasses the city of Venice.
The IRIDE network consists of six satellite constellations that orbit our planet, capturing comprehensive data and imagery of Earth.
Why is it incredible?
Venice is famous for its Grand Canal and canal networks, where you can find people traveling by gondola. Made up of a group of islands, this coastal city is intrinsically linked to the waters it inhabits.
In this view from space, you can see just how intertwined every curve of the city is with the surrounding waters.
There is bright blue water, whose brilliant color is created by suspended sediment, as well as mud flats and salt marshes, which appear as dark brown and green in the top-right of the image.
The great variety of watery ecosystems in this region have created a home for not only humans in the city but an incredible array of wildlife, such as birds in the salt marshes.
While Venice's waters exude an incredible natural beauty, as seen in this image, they also put the city and its residents at risk as sea levels continue to rise. Because Venice is so intertwined with its surrounding water, it is especially vulnerable to sea level rise caused by climate change, and every year the city essentially "sinks" roughly 1/16th of an inch (2 millimeters).
