Rêcifs d'Entracasteaux
- ISS006-E-7747
- 12 December 2002
- 22:26 UTC
The isolated d'Entracasteaux Reefs are located 190 km northwest from New Caledonia's main island of Grand Terre. They lie at the opposite side of the 30 km wide Grand Passage that separates them from the northern ends of the Grand Récif de Cook and the Récif des Français. The group consists of a cluster of two main atolls-like reefs and a number of smaller reefs spread over an area of around 6,400 km². Located amongst the reefs are several cays that have a combined land area of 0.65 km².
The large reef on the left (south) in the above image is the 30 km long, mostly submerged Atoll du Surprise. The perimeter of its outer reef is continuous except for in the northwest regions where it begins to break up in to smaller units forming passages in to the interior lagoon. In this region there are two small islets of Île Leizour & Île Fabre. The western reef rim contains the island of Île Surprise. Vegetated and low-lying, these remote cays provide regionally important nesting grounds for Sea Turltes.
Situated 10 km to the northwest from the Surprise Atoll is the similar-sized Atoll du Huon and its solitary island of Île Huon. More isolated at the west (top) is the smaller, crescent-shaped Atoll du Portail.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
