Christmas Tree-Shaped Fjords Seen from Space

This Envisat image combines three different radar observations acquired over the Westfjords peninsula in northwest Iceland.

(Image credit: ESA)

The long, narrow fjords carved into the coast of Iceland make parts of the volcanic island country look like Christmas trees from space.

This image of the Westfjords peninsula in northwest Iceland combines a series of radar observations from the European Space Agency's (ESA) now dead school bus-size satellite Envisat. The gray areas show land, while the colorful sections stand in for water, and the white dots near the middle of the image are radar reflections from the region's largest town, Ísafjörður, according to ESA.

Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity. Follow her on Twitter and Google+.