This false-colour (near-infra-red, red, green) image has been processed to emphasize details on the lake’s surface. The scene shows oil slicks (the various dark patches) in the south-eastern portion of the lake. The slicks come from leaks in the various oil production and storage platforms located on Lake Maracaibo. The water and land components of this scene were processed and stretched separately and then “stitched” back together into one image; this stitching is evident along the shoreline. On land, the red colour indicates vegetated areas, the bluish areas show paved surfaces, and the browns are bare land. This scene is 15 meters per pixel and spans an area of 900 square km.
Image courtesy NASA Earth Observatory
2003-06-11
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