SPACEPHOTOS

Rhine River Valley, Germany November, 1995 The meandering Rhine River, carrying more traffic than any other waterway in the world, can be seen traversing the scene from lower left (south) to the upper right corner (north) of the image. The Rhine River is one of the principal rivers of Europe and is 820 miles (1320 km) long. Passing through Cologne (Koln) near the bottom center of the image and Dusseldorf (just right of the center), the Rhine flows across the North German plain as a broad, sluggish, polluted river on a bed of ancient deltaic deposits left by ancestors of the modern river. Both Cologne and Dusseldorf are major industrial, financial, and commercial cities. The cities are also busy river ports and important transportation hubs. Brown coal strip mines ground scars are visible to the west (left) of the river. A jet contrail (straight white line) is discernible extending from the upper left toward the center of the image.