Emerald Isle: A Satellite View of Ireland from NASA Earth Observatory

July 10, 2014

This satellite view of Ireland was taken from NASA’s Aqua satellite on October 11th, 2010, an unusually cloud-free day for that time of year. With a mild, moist climate due to warm ocean currents in the North Atlantic, Ireland’s average rainfall is between 29 and 78 inches (750 and 2000 millimeters) a year. The western side of the island and the mountains receive the most rain, which falls in light showers. The green portions of the image are made up mostly of grasslands, while the brown areas are bare rock.

References

“Ireland: NASA Image Acquired October 11th, 2010.” Satellite image. Flickr.com. From: NASA Earth Observatory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s photostream on Flickr.com. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6841846440 (accessed 10 July 2014)