Mariana Islands, Pacific Ocean

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Thursday, 3 May 2007, 07:48 CDT Download full size image

A clear day on April 19, 2007, gave the MODIS on the Aqua satellite a nice view of the Mariana Islands, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Japan. The Marianas are actually an archipelago made up of the summits of a submerged mountain range.

The more northern islands in the Marianas are volcanic, while the more southern islands are largely limestone. The most southern island in the Marianas is Guam, a US Territory. Guam is politically separate from rest of the islands, which are formally called the Northern Mariana Islands.

This particular image of the Marianas shows the more southern limestone islands. From south to north, they are: Guam, Rota, Aguijen, Tinian, and Saipan. All of them are inhabited except Aguijen.

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