Beautemps-Beaupré Atoll
- Landsat 7
- Path 82, Row 74
- 19 July 2001
The small Beautemps-Beaupré Atoll is an emergent bank located upon the 1,000 km long Loyalty Ridge — a formation that gives rise to the Loyalty Islands proper as well as to numerous emergent reef structures. The large atoll of Ouvéa is located 12 km to the southeast and the Récifs de l'Astrolabe 55 km to the northwest; the outer barrier reefs of New Caledonia's Grande Terre lie 85 km to the southwest, across the deep Loyalty Basin.
Beautemps-Beaupré is approximately triangular in shape with a maximum dimensoin of 14 km. A pronounced reef crest forms the northern and eastern boundary to the formation creating a shallow lagoon environment on the northern half. The western side is less developed and more exposed.
A single vegetated islet (Beautemps-Beaupré) is located at the atoll's southern extremity; there are also a number of small sand cays on the eastern rim.
image: millennium coral reefs landsat archive/usf millennium global coral reef mapping project/nasa seawifs/nasa jsc