Southeastern England Snowcover
January 10, 2001
Provided by: NASA/GSFC
Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster; Richard Kelly
A 'real' winter hits the UK - at least for a few days. This Landsat ETM+ image shows London and southeastern England covered in a blanket of snow on 28 December 2000 (see the January 4, 2001 Earth Science Picture of the Day). London can be seen as the darker area in the center of the image. The London vicinity received about 2 to 3 inches of snow, but more than a foot of snow was measured in parts of Scotland and Ireland. Note the contrast between the snow and the darker water features such as rivers and estuaries. The snow also emphasizes the relief surrounding the city with the Chiltern Hills (west of London), North and South Downs (south of London) evident. Clouds and cloud shadows obscure the snow to the north of the capital. Snow cover in London and in southeastern England observed by Landsat are rare because they require the coincidence of snow cover, a cloudless day and a 1 in 16 satellite overpass chance; not a likely combination.
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