Isla del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula

Isla del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Isla del Carmen, a barrier island on the Yucatan Peninsula. The island is connected to the mainland by one of the longest bridges in Central America, the Zacatal Bridge.

In the 1970s, oil was discovered in the shallow offshore waters. Today, the Mexican city remains a hub for petroleum industries. 

In the photo, dark water that is colored by sediment flows out of Laguna de Términos. Water flows out of the lagoon through the Carmen Inlet, and the sediment mixes in with the blue waters of the Bay of Campeche. North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be described as the northern subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers (9,540,000 square miles), about 16.5% of the Earth’s land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe

Laguna de Términos is the largest coastal lagoon in Mexico. The region is home to bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, and many coastal plant and bird species.

The image of Isla del Carmen was captured on November 29, 2020 by an astronaut onboard the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer