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> Great Bahamas Bank

Great Bahamas Bank

author: ESA/USGS/Novapix

reference: t-nabah-00009

Image Size 300 DPI: 38 * 27 cm

Underwater structures of the Great Bahamas Bank are pictured in this image from the Landsat-8 satellite on 5 February 2014. Sitting north of Cuba, the bank is made of limestone – mainly from the skeletal fragments of marine organisms – that has been accumulating for over 100 million years. Currents sculpted these underwater sediments into the wavy pattern we see along the bottom of the image, just a few metres deep. We can clearly see where the shallow waters drop off into the deep, dark water of an area known as the Tongue of the Ocean. With depths of up to about 4000 m, this trench surrounded by islands, reefs and shoals has an opening to the Atlantic Ocean at its northern end (not pictured). Over the deep Tongue we can see a few sparse clouds.

Keywords for this photo:

2014 - ATLANTIC OCEAN - BAHAMAS - CARIBBEAN - CORAL - EARTH - EARTH FROM SPACE - LANDSAT - LANDSAT-8 - SAND - SATELLITE IMAGE - WATER -