14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the European Space Agency (ESA) have just released this beautiful image of the Westfjords peninsula in northwestern Iceland, which was collected by the Envisat satellite. The photo contains three datasets, collected on September 11, 2004, April 14, 2007 and May 3, 2008.
Envisat made passes over the same location on these dates, and used its radar instrument to image the fjords and their watery inclusions. The dark grey areas in the photo are landmasses, vaguely shaped like Christmas trees, while the multiple-colored inclusions are long fjords that move deep inland.
These fjords appeared during the last Ice Age, when much of Iceland's surface was covered in glaciers. As the ices moved towards the northern Atlantic Ocean, they carved the deep, smooth valleys that we now call fjords. Countries such as Norway are also well-known for their many fjords.
Proportional to its surface, Iceland features the largest ice-covered area of any country in Europe. It is the westernmost country on the Old Continent, and has the world's northernmost capital, Reykjavik. Due to its location on the mid-Atlantic Ridge, the country benefits from a mild climate even though it lies at the edge of the Arctic Circle.