Photos and information below are posted courtesy of the European Space Agency

 
"The French Frigate Shoals, highlighted in this Proba image, is an atoll consisting of a 35-kilometre crescent-shaped reef. . . . part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), a chain of atolls and small islands northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, which are home to approximately 13,000 square kilometres of coral reefs (about 70 percent of all coral reefs found in U.S. waters) and to the threatened green sea turtle, seabirds, and the only remaining population of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal."











"On 1 March 2008 Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument spotted a huge fissure running south to north through the massive A53A iceberg located just east of the South Georgia Island (visible at image bottom) in the southern Atlantic Ocean. ASAR . . . is capable of differentiating between different types of ice because it is able to see through clouds and local darkness – conditions often found in polar areas."







         

"This image shows a detail of a full-resolution MERIS image, over the Nile Delta.  The MERIS bands used to enhance the spectral difference over land show up the sedimentation from the delta into the Mediterranean. Looking closely we can see the different channels of the Nile cutting their way towards the sea. The black areas represent cities on the shores of the channels; El Mansure, Tanta and El Mahalla el Kubra are the three cities in the centre of the delta, with Cairo again clearly visible at the base. The blue plume offshore is caused by sediment from the river being pumped into the sea."