PIA11019: Tongue of the Ocean and Grand Bahama Bank
 Target Name:  Earth
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  ISS EarthKam
 Spacecraft:  Space Shuttle
 Instrument:  Electronic Still Camera
 Product Size:  3060 x 2036 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA11019.tif (18.69 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA11019.jpg (1.05 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Click here for annotated version of PIA11019
Click on image for larger annotated version

This extraordinary image captures the meeting place of the deep waters of the Tongue of the Ocean and the much shallower, completely submerged Grand Bahama Bank. This platform reef drops off quickly into the branch of the Great Bahama submarine canyon that because of its shape is called the Tongue of the Ocean. The vertical rock walls of the Canyon rise 14,060 feet from their greatest depth to the surrounding seabed, which is why the water is so dark in color compared to the reef. The shallowest parts of the reef are no more than three to seven feet deep; so shallow, in fact, that in the northeast corner of the image you can zoom in and see large wave-sized ripples of sand on the bottom. Like so many other biological structures, the ribbon-like form of the reef maximizes surface area and thus the number of organisms that can colonize the structure. The closest land is the Bahama Islands of Great Exuma, less than 16 miles to the east, and Andros about 27 miles to the west.

This image was taken from the Space Shuttle on February 14, 2000.

Photojournal note:
EarthKAM was formerly known as KidSat. To see images of KidSat, see https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/KidSat .

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/UCSD/JSC

Image Addition Date:
2008-09-04