Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Photo ID P-4700
June 20, 1996
This radar image of Calcutta, India, illustrates different
urban land use patterns. Calcutta, the largest city in
India, is located on the banks of the Hugli River, shown as
the thick, dark line in the upper portion of the image. The
surrounding area is a flat swampy region with a subtropical
climate. As a result of this marshy environment, Calcutta is
a compact city, concentrated along the fringes of the river.
The average elevation is approximately 9 meters (30 feet)
above sea level. Calcutta is located 154 kilometers (96
miles) upstream from the Bay of Bengal. Central Calcutta is
the light blue and orange area below the river in the center
of the image. The bridge spanning the river at the city
center is the Howrah Bridge which links central Calcutta to
Howrah. The dark region just below the river and to the left
of the city center is Maidan, a large city park housing
numerous cultural and recreational facilities. The
international airport is in the lower right of the image.
The bridge in the upper right is the Bally Bridge which
links the suburbs of Bally and Baranagar.
This image is 30
kilometers by 10 kilometers (19 miles by 6 miles) and is
centered at 22.3 degrees north latitude, 88.2 degrees east
longitude. North is toward the upper right. The colors are
assigned to different radar frequencies and polarizations as
follows: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and
received; green is L-band, horizontally transmitted and
vertically received; and blue is C-band, horizontally
transmitted and vertically received. The image was acquired
by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) on October 5, 1994, onboard the Space
Shuttle Endeavour. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the
German, Italian and United States space agencies, is part of
NASA's Mission to Planet Earth program.
![[CALCUTTA, INDIA]](CALCUTTA.GIF)