Rasdhoo
- ISS010-E-13155
- 15 January 2005
- 09:16 UTC
Rasdhoo is a small satellite atoll of Ari Atoll, located 9 km northeast from the northeastern rim of Ari and 35 km west from North Male. Administratively it is part of the North Ari Atoll division. The atoll is egg-shaped, measuring 9 km by 8 km with its longer axis orientated southwest to northeast.
There are five islands situated on the eastern and southeastern sides of the atoll: Veligandu, Madivarufinolhu, Madivaru, Rasdhoo, and Kuramathi. The western sides, by contrast, consist solely of broad reefs with an unusual double reef crest formation. The southern rim of the atoll is broken by the two narrow passages (Kuramathi Kandu and Rasdhoo Kandoo) that lie either side of the main island of Rasdhoo; the northeastern rim is open to the surrounding oceanic waters by a 1 km wide passage known as the North Channel (bottom-right in the above image).
The lagoon of Rasdhoo contains many smaller reef formations — particularly so in its western sections; at the lagoon centre is a large, twin-lobed, reef feature known as Bodu Ashey.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
