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The Caucasus Mountains stretch from the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of the Caspian Sea, forming a geographical border between Asia and Europe. On April 14, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a stunning true-color image of the eastern extent of the Caucasus Mountains in eastern Azerbaijan.
The snow-capped mountain range of the Greater Caucasus Mountains extends about 750 miles (1,200 km) running from west-northwest to east, southeast. In eastern Azerbaijan the mountains dramatically drop towards the Caspian Sea. The small Absheron Peninsula, while technically the endpoint of the Caucasus, form a gently undulating plain only about 10 miles (30 km) wide. The city of Baku, the largest in Azerbaijan, sits on the Absheron Peninsula and has been considered the “oil capital” of the Caspian Region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 4/14/2020
Resolutions:
1km (130.9 KB), 500m (381.2 KB), 250m (557 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC