The striking contrast of the diverse landscape in southeast Kenya is featured in this false-colour image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-2.

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The Republic of Kenya lies in East Africa and is renowned for its scenic natural landscapes and vast wildlife reserves. Its low coastal plain facing the Indian Ocean holds some of Africa’s finest beaches, which, in the image, can be seen as light brown strips all along the coast.

A few natural inlets are visible in shades of blue along the coast. Mombasa, Kenya’s chief port and second largest city, lies on the large inlet at the bottom of the image.

The popular tourist town of Malindi can be spotted as a grey area on the coast about 120 km northeast of Mombasa, at the mouth of the Athi-Galana-Sabaki River, Kenya’s second longest river. The river course can be seen across the top left of the image. It flows in a southwest direction and eventually drains into the Indian Ocean.

This false-colour image has been processed including Copernicus Sentinel-2’s near-infrared channel. This type of band combination is most commonly used to assess plant density and health, as plants reflect near-infrared and green light, while absorbing red. Since they reflect more near-infrared than green, dense, plant-covered land appears in bright red.

The red strip of land along the coast denotes heavily vegetated areas, including various natural reserves and parks. This contrasts with the green and yellow areas of the hinterland, which conversely appear relatively devoid of vegetation.

A layer of ‘popcorn’ clouds spreads evenly over the vegetated areas along the coast. These clouds are the result of water vapour that has evaporated from trees and other plants. As the air rises, it cools and the water vapour condenses into the tiny clouds as are visible here.