This nighttime thermal-infrared image of northern Eritrea and the Red Sea show the generally lower temperature of the land surface as dark tones and the higher sea surface temperatures as bright tones. Temperature variations on land are due to natural composition and, to a lesser extent, topographic slope differences, and to anthropological influences. These differences cannot be measured in the short wavelength region (VNIR and SWIR).

(Image area: approximately 60 km. x 60 km.; ground resolution - 90m x 90m).

Image courtesy of MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team