Winter Landscape Near Dalian, Liaonίng, China
18 February 2012

Note: The area of coverage in this XSAT image is approximately 30 km x 30 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

This is an image of the coast near Dalian in northeast China towards the end of winter. The land is bare and grey, the well known sand beaches of Dalian are cold, and the shallow part of the sea is frozen. The wide sand beaches, backed by rocky cliffs and boat piers, are very different in summer. Near the beach the sea appears to have frozen in a thin sheet but the ice is thicker further out, piling up against the headlands and displaying cracks on its top surface. Even the sediment in the sea appears to be frozen, especially around the offshore islands. The 10 m resolution of the XSat illustrates the hilly nature of the terrain, the transport network of roads and the airport along the coastal plain, and the water features. Settlements crowd the heads of bays.