MODIS false color image of Russia, 14 July 2004.
Running along the eastern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau in northeastern Russia, the Lena River heads north to the Oleneskiy Delta, where it empties into in the Laptev Sea. This false-color Aqua MODIS image, acquired in midsummer 2004, shows the River within the confines of the Arctic Circle, heading into a sea where ice still floats on the surface of the water. The ice is colored light blue, while unfrozen (liquid) water is black. Land appears in shades of brown and green, the intensity of the green correlating to the amount of vegetation on the land. White represents clouds. This image was acquired on July 14, 2004, and was created from data in bands 7, 2, and 1 (false color).
Text and image courtesy of NASA's MODIS Land Rapid Response Team.