Space Radar Image of Los Angeles, California

This radar image shows the massive urbanization of Los Angeles, California. The image extends from the Santa Monica Bay at the left to the San Gabriel Mountains at the right. Downtown Los Angeles is in the center of the image. The runways of the Los Angeles International Airport appear as black strips at the left center of the image. The waterways of Marina del Rey are seen just above the airport. The San Gabriel Mountains and the city of Pasadena are at the right center of the image. Black areas on the mountains on the right are fire scars from the 1993 Altadena fire. The Rose Bowl is shown as a small circle near the right center. The complex freeway system is visible as dark lines throughout the image. Some city areas, such as Santa Monica in the upper left, appear red due to the alignment of streets and buildings to the incoming radar beam.

The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the space shuttle Endeavour on October 3, 1994. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian and the United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. This image is centered at 34.04 degrees North latitude and 118.2 degrees West longitude with North pointing toward the upper right. The area shown measures 40 kilometers by 50 kilometers (25 miles by 31 miles).