Fuvamulah

Fuvamulah
  • ISS011-E-8499
  • 10 June 2005
  • 09:34 UTC

Fuvamulah (Foammulah Atoll/Fua Mulaku) is a solitary island located in the southern Maldives, lying within the Equatorial Channel between Addu Atoll (36 km the southwest) and Huvadhoo Atoll (55 km to the the north). It is the sole constituent of the Gnaviyani Atoll administrative unit. The island is often incorrectly described as being an atoll formation — "atoll" also refers to the political units that make up the Maldivian nation.

The island is a low coral formation of 4.5 km in length and 1.2 km in width, covering an area of 4.2 km² — making it the third largest island of the entire Maldives group. Like many of the low coral islands that can be found on the other side of the world in the central Pacific, Fuvamulah rises from the shore to form a beach crest of 2 to 3 m in height before sloping downwards to an interior basin that reaches sea level. Within the interior basin are two fresh-water lakes — one at each end of the island. Much of the coastline is lined by fringing reefs, except for that of the eastern side; in the southeast a shallow submarine shelf extends southwards for around 2 km.


image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center

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