Atiu
- ISS002-E-9923
- 18 July 2001
- 23:03 UTC
Atiu, the third largest of the CooK Islands, is located 212 km northeast from Rarotonga and 76 km northwest from Mauke. The island is a raised coral island of just under 27 km² in area, largely surrounded by low limestone cliffs of between 3 m and 6 m in height. From the edge of this raised platform the interior rises slowly to a plateau area of low hilly terrain. Surrounding the island is a narrow fringing reef up to 100 m in width, enclosing an even narrower lagoon.
Prominent in the above image are the five villages of Areora, Ngatiarua, Teenui, Mapumai and Tengatangi — forming a man-like figure in the centre of island.
Atiu is home to one of the largest colonies of Red-tailed Tropic birds in the Cook Islands, and has the Cook's only breeding colonies of Brown Booby, White-capped Noddy, Red-footed Booby and Great Frigate birds.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
