Hong Kong, China
Photo ID P-46983
June 13, 1996
This spaceborne radar image shows part of the British territory
of Hong Kong, adjacent to mainland China. The South China Sea is
shown in dark blue and red on the image. Land surfaces are seen
in shades of lighter blue and gold, including Hong Kong Island in
the lower center, the Kowloon Peninsula in the upper right and
many other small islands. The brightest yellow areas are the
densely developed areas of Hong Kong's business and residential
districts. The small yellow dots in the water are the many ships
that make Hong Kong one of the busiest seaports in the Far East.
Images such as this can be used by land-use planners to monitor
urban development and its effect on the tropical environment.
The
image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space
shuttle Endeavour on October 10, 1994. The image is 23 kilometers
by 31 kilometers (14 miles by 19 miles) and is centered at 22.3
degrees north latitude, 114.1 degrees east longitude. North is
toward the upper right. The colors are assigned to different
radar frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red
is L-band, vertically transmitted and received; green is C-band,
vertically transmitted and received; and blue is C-band minus
L-band, both vertically transmitted and received. 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.
![[HONG KONG]](HK2.GIF)