NASA MODIS Image of the Day: April 24, 2011 – Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba
On April 10, 2011 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite passed over southern Florida and captured this true-color image of a clear day across the region.
The large circular body of water in the state of Florida is Lake Okeechobee, the largest freshwater lake in the state and the second largest freshwater lake contained in the lower 48 states of the United States.
It is approximately half the size of the state of Rhode Island, and covers about 730 square miles (1,890 square kilometers). To the southeast of Okeechobee, a long gray swath can be seen running along the coast. This is a large metropolitan area that begins near West Palm Beach in the north, and ends south of Homestead, in the south. The city of Miami can be seen just north of Biscayne Bay. At the southern tip of Florida, the Florida Keys form and arc to the southwest. In the Atlantic Ocean several islands of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas can be seen surrounded by brilliant blue and white. The bright blue comes from shallowness of the water, and forms a strong contrast to the deep blue of the ocean. Grand Bahama is the northernmost island, and the island of Abaco lies to its east. The largest island, Andros, lies southeast of the Florida Keys, with Nassau and Eleuthera to the east. The large island at the bottom of the image is the main island of the Republic of Cuba.
