Barbuda
- ISS008-E-7945
- 13 December 2003
- 12:45 UTC
The island of Barbuda, located 45 km north from Antigua, is a flat limestone island of 160 km² in area situated at the northern end of the large submarine platform that it shares with Antigua. Barbuda measures 24 km in length (orientated northwest to southeast) and has a maximum width of 13 km.
The dominant feature of the island is the shallow, Codrington Lagoon which occupies much of the northwest side of the island, running parallel to the coast. The lagoon is connected to the sea at its northern end via the small Cuffy Creek.
The interior of Barbuda is low-lying throughout, rising to a maximum elevation of 38 m above sea level in the so-called Highlands area of the east. This limestone region contains some karst-like terrain with caverns and sinkholes occurring.
A fringing reef system lines the entire eastern coast of Barbuda, as well as around much of the northern and southern coasts where the coastline is met by deeper oceanic waters that are exposed to the open Atlantic Ocean. The opposite and more protected (western) shore is generally shallow and sandy.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
