Crescent Group
- Landsat 7
- Path 122 Row 049
- 26 January 2003
The Crescent Group of reefs and islands are located on the eastern edge of the Paracel Islands region, situated 18 km directly north from Discovery Reef and 64 km southwest from the Amphitrite Group. The group measures 31 km in length (east to west), with a maximum north to south width of 15 km.
It consists of 8 distinct units, 7 of which form an open atoll-like structure enclosing a very deep central lagoon: the northernmost component (see annotated image) is that of Observation Bank with a small sand cay on its inner face; the eastern side is formed by a 12 km long, boomerang-shaped reef with the small Drummond Island located at its southwestern extremity; across the 3 km wide passage from Drummond Island are the islands of the Duncan Islands group; a farther 8 km eastwards is the half-moon shaped Antelope Reef, submerged at high tide and containing a central lagoon; northwards from Antelope Reef are the two islands of Robert and Pattle — each reef-fringed and isolated from their neighbours by a deep channel. Situated in the southwest, outside of the ring formed by the other members of the group, is the island of Money; its reef also contains a number of small sand cays on the southern side.
With the exception of the small cays, all of the islands of the Crescent Group are vegetated.
image: millennium coral reefs landsat archive/usf millennium global coral reef mapping project/nasa seawifs/nasa jsc
