The southern part of Alaska

This image, acquired by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on 18 May 2009, features the southern part of Alaska, which is located in the extreme northwest of the North American continent. Snow-covered mountain ranges dominate the image. The crescent-shaped Alaska Range is visible in the upper left corner. The Kenai Mountains cover the southern and eastern portions of the Kenai Peninsula (left of image centre), which is separated from the mainland by the Cook Inlet (a bay of the Pacific Ocean that is visible west of the peninsula in shades of blue, green and tan). Anchorage (visible in light green), the state’s largest city, is situated at the head of Cook Inlet. Several rivers and lakes dot the peninsula. Lakes Tustumena (large light blue lake to the south), Skilak (above Tustumena) and Kenai (L-shaped lake northeast of Skilak) are clearly visible.