30-cm Color WorldView Image of the Month – Lac Pavin, France

Lac Pavin, or Lake Pavin, is a meromictic crater lake located in the Dore mountains of Auvergne in the territory of the commune of Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, Puy-de-Dôme department of France, between Besse-en-Chandesse and Super-Besse. Formed by phreatomagmatism 6,900 years ago, this crater lake is the youngest volcano in mainland France. It was named after Pavin cheese. The lake was formed by phreatomagmatism, in other words, it is a maar. Generally circular in shape with a diameter of 700 to 800 meters and an area of 44 hectares, it has an average depth of 29.5 meters and a maximum depth of 92 meters, making it the deepest in Auvergne. The Couze Pavin River, which passes 300 meters from the lake, is only partially fed by the latter. It was formed after the period of volcanic activity that created the Puys mountain chain around 6,900 years ago, making it one of the youngest volcanic structures in mainland France. The lake is visited by approximately 200,000 people per year. Visitors enjoy hiking around Lac Pavin, which is defined by its perfectly circular crater lake, dense forests of pine and spruce, and surrounding volcanic hills. The network offers options for various ability levels, from easy lakeside walks to moderate excursions connecting multiple natural features. In the image featured here, we can see the rich, deep blue hue of Lac Pavin surrounded by tufts of green trees. This 30-cm WorldView Legion image was collected on July 5, 2026, and has custom processing and color balance applied by Apollo Mapping. (Satellite Imagery © 2026 Vantor)

In this monthly article, we travel the world to check out unique, fun and sometimes a bit weird 30-centimeter (cm) color imagery samples from the WorldView constellation. In October, we looked at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York. For this edition of the 30-cm Color WorldView Image of the Month, we travel to Europe for a look at Lac Pavin in France.

Do you enjoy the high-resolution satellite imagery we post monthly in this article and elsewhere in The Geospatial Times? If so, head over to our Reddit subgroup, HighResSatelliteImage, where we post some our favorite high-resolution satellite images on a weekly basis.

30-cm WorldView-3 (WV3) launched in late 2014, WorldView-4 (WV4) launched in late 2016 and then the first WorldView Legion satellites launched in 2024. Taken together, this is the most advanced satellite constellation the commercial marketplace has ever had access to. Here are a few of the features that really set these satellites apart from the competition:

Improved Resolution
- Higher resolution means you can see more detail in WorldView imagery.
- Data collected at nadir will have 31-centimeter (cm) panchromatic, 1.24-meter (m) visible and near infrared, 3.7-m SWIR (WV3 only) and 30-m CAVIS (WV3 only) bands.

Additional Spectral Bands
- If spectral analysis is part of your project, then no other satellite can match WorldView-3 and WorldView Legion with their 8 bands of visible and near-infrared data; and then 8 shortwave infrared bands (WV3 only) which are crucial for geological studies.

Better Positional Accuracy
- With accuracies of 3.5-m CE90% or better (without ground control even!), the 30-cm WorldView constellation has no rivals for its enhanced positional accuracy.

Daily Revisits
- With multiple WorldView-3 and WorldView Legion satellites orbiting our planet, daily revisits are available for most locations.
- WV4 is no longer collecting new imagery.

Increased Collection Capacity
- WV3/4 feature 13.1-km swath widths (at nadir) with the ability to collect up to 680,000 square kilometers (sq km) of high-resolution data per day per satellite (though WV4 is dead now).
- WorldView Legion features six 30-cm satellites, significantly boosting the collection capacity of this leading high-resolution constellation.

If you are interested in WorldView-3, WorldView-4 and/or WorldView Legion imagery for your next project, please let us know by phone, 303-993-3863, or by email, sales@apollomapping.com.

You can also find more WV3 samples and technical information on our website here; WV4 samples and information can be found here; and then finally here is more information about WorldView Legion.