The Venetian Lagoon

This image captures the busy waterways of the Venetian Lagoon and the islands located northeast of the city of Venice (not visible). The lagoon’s largest island is Saint Erasmus (centre right). Saint Erasmus and its neighbouring island Le Vignole (bottom left) have long been referred to as Venice’s countryside because they are covered in fields, groves and vineyards. The lagoon’s labyrinth of waterways is made visible by boats and their contrails.

This image was acquired on 22 June 2008 by Ikonos-2, a commercial satellite that provides panchromatic and multispectral high-resolution imagery. ESA is supporting Ikonos-2 as a 'Third Party Mission', which means ESA utilises its multi-mission European ground infrastructure and expertise to acquire, process and distribute data from the satellite to its wide user community.