Earth from Space: New York

This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image highlights the colours of autumn over the southern part of New York state in the US.

Zoom in to explore this image at its full 10 m resolution or click on the circles to learn more.

The different shades of brown in the image, which is from November 2022, capture the colours of autumn. This is particularly evident in the upper part of the image where mountains and forests are typical of the region.

New York is one of the most populous states in the US. Here, we see the area surrounding the Hudson River in the top left, through New York City following the river southwards, to the Atlantic shores of Long Island, which dominates the centre of the image. Long Island lies almost parallel to the southern shore of Connecticut, separated by Long Island Sound, a 145-km-long inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The lighter tones of blue in the waters of Long Island Sound and Great South Bay – the lagoon on the southern shore of the island – show sediment shaped like eddies owing to surface currents.

Visible as a grey area to the west of Long Island is New York City. It comprises five boroughs, with the island of Manhattan in the centre bound by the Hudson, East and Harlem rivers. The meeting of the Hudson and East Rivers has formed one of the world’s largest natural harbours.

Separated from New York by the Hudson River, part of New Jersey is also visible in the bottom left of the image.

Zooming in, a number of iconic places can be spotted, including the 340-hectare green rectangle of Central Park at the centre of Manhattan Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the three connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan, and Liberty Island, with the famous Statue of Liberty, which is off the southern tip of Manhattan.