Fall colors emerge on the islands of Japan

Today’s Image of the Day from the European Space Agency  features the colors of autumn across the islands of Japan. The photo was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on November 1, 2023.

“Japan is made up of thousands of islands stretching some 2500 km through the western Pacific Ocean. Almost all of the land area, however, is taken up by the country’s four main islands, three of which are pictured in this image,” said ESA.

“From north to south we see Honshu, the largest island extending in a northeast–southwest arc, Shikoku, just beneath the lower part of Honshu, and Kyushu at the bottom.”

According to ESA, the fall colors – visible in shades of red and brown – were triggered by cooler temperatures and fewer daylight hours.

“Urban areas and cultivated land stand out in sharp contrast in tones of grey. The largest area on the eastern coast of Honshu is Japan’s capital Tokyo. This metropolitan area – commonly known as Greater Tokyo – stretches around Tokyo Bay and is home to about 37 million people, making it the largest megacity in the world. Other urban areas, visible moving south along the Pacific coast of Honshu, are Nagoya and Osaka,” said ESA.

“Honshu is also home to the country’s highest mountain Mount Fuji, a volcano that has been dormant since 1707. Its snow-capped summit can be spotted as a small white dot near the Pacific coast, about 100 km southwest of Tokyo.”

Image Credit: ESA 

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