This image from the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer's nadir-looking camera was acquired on July 11, 2000and shows a 200-kilometer section of the eastern Australian coast,centered around the Sydney metropolitan area. This city is host to the 2000Olympic Games, which open Friday, September 15. Sydney Harbour is therugged-shaped inlet toward the northern side of the grey-colored central cityarea. Olympic Park, the main venue for the Games, is on a southern arm of theharbor, about 20 kilometers from the coast.
The areas to the north, west, and south of Sydney are characterized by ruggedterrain and extensive forests. Just north of the city the Ku-ring-gai Chase andBrisbane Waters National Parks surround the Hawkesbury River estuary. Furthernorth and separated from the ocean by narrow dunes are a series of lakes, the twolargest in this image being Lake Macquarie (at the top) and Tuggerah Lake.
West of the metropolitan area, some 65 kilometers inland, are the Blue Mountains.The primary transport corridor for road and rail across the mountains is clearlyvisible, and just north of it is the steep-sided Grose River valley. In thesouthern part of the mountains is a series of long valleys filled by LakeBurragorang, a major source of Sydney's water supply.
South of Sydney's central area are Botany Bay, Bate Bay, and the Royal NationalPark. Further south, the forested coastline gives way to the city of Wollongong,the adjacent steel-making complex at Port Kembla, and Lake Illawarra.
References & Resources
Image courtesy MISR science team, NASA/JPL
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