Diego Garcia
- ISS006-E-43826
- 06 April 2003
- 07:05 UTC
The atoll of Diego Garcia — the only inhabited member of the archipelago — is the southernmost atoll of the Chagos Archipelago. It lies 54 km south from the southern rim of the Great Chagos Bank and 122 km southeast from the Egmont Islands.
Diego Garcia has the classical atoll morphology, comprising a 60 km long ribbon of land that encloses a shallow central lagoon (up to 30 m in depth) of 21 km in length and 11 km in width. The perimeter is continuous, except in the north where it is broken by the three passages into the lagoon, including the Barton Pass on the east a nd the Main Pass on the west. Also situated at the lagoon entrance are the three small islands of East, West and Middle — the latter islet sitting on the larger Spur Reef formation. The total land area of Diego Garcia is 28 km² and that of the atoll as a whole, 44 km².
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
