Furneaux Islands off the northeast coast of Tasmania
Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features the Furneaux Islands off the northeast coast of Tasmania.
The photo was captured by a camera on the International Space Station as it passed through the southernmost part of its cyclical orbit path. The ISS External High-Definition Camera camera is dedicated to Earth observation.
The Furneaux Group contains more than 100 islands in the eastern Bass Strait, which separates mainland Australia from Tasmania. The largest of these include Flinders, Cape Barren, and Clarke.
The islands are named after Captain Tobias Furneaux, an English navigator and Royal Navy officer who first spotted them in 1773. The group largest islands
“The sparsely populated Flinders Island appears mostly two-toned from 400 kilometers (250 miles) above,” reports NASA. “Dark brownish scrub areas contrast with mottled green vegetated woodland and agricultural areas. Bright beaches outline the islands, and tidal sand banks are visible between them.”
“The Furneaux Group once formed the backbone of a land bridge between Tasmania and Victoria, Australia. That land bridge was submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the Earth’s most recent ice age, with the topographic high points becoming islands.”
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer
