Northern Territory of Australia

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC, Posted on: Sunday, 26 October 2008, 08:49 CDT Download full size image

A clear day on September 29, 2008 gave the MODIS on the Terra satellite this clear view of the Northern Territory of Australia. This image shows the northern portion of the Northern Territory, sometimes known as the Top End. There are also a few large islands visible, including Melville and Bathurst Islands to the north and the smaller Groote Eylandt to the east. The Top End is vaguely defined geographically, but it roughly encompasses the peninsula area bounded by seas on three sides. The Timor Sea is to the west, with the Arafura Sea to the north, and the Gulf of Carpentaria to the east. The climate in this region is tropical, which is very unlike the desert environment in the southern part of the Northern Territory.

The city of Darwin, the capital of this Australian state, is located on the Timor Sea, just south of Melville Island. The Stuart Highway begins here, and runs south through the Northern Territory to Alice Springs, and finally ends in South Australia at Port Augusta. Not far south of Darwin is Kakadu National Park, which covers nearly five million acres. Kakadu has a diversity of wildlife, terrain, and also contains a great deal of Aboriginal historical and cultural sites.

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