An important cultural, religious, archaeological, architectural, and artistic center, Siem Reap spreads over 400 square kilometers (about 155 square miles) and is the gateway to the archaeological sites of Angkor, the center of the Khmer Kingdom (802 CE–1432 CE). It’s home to extensive stone temples and waterways including canals, dikes, and reservoirs, such as the West Baray — a reservoir 5 miles (8 kilometers) long by 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide with an average depth of 13 feet (4 meters), pictured in the center of the image. It is the largest human-made lake of the Khmer civilization and was thought to originally have been filled by rainwater, although today a series of channels and moats leads to the water body. In this image, captured in February 2004, we see the low-water level in the baray as the deep blue fades into red. February is one of the driest months of the year, evidenced by sparser vegetation (red) in the bottom image.
Source: ASTER; Scale 1:150,000
