Swains Island
- ISS004-E-6755
- 22 January 2002
- 20:13 UTC
Swains Island, located 295 km northeast from Savai'i, is a small atoll formation situated at the southern end of the Tokelau group of atolls; Fakaofo — the southernmost atoll of the Tokelau group — lies 177 km to the north.
The atoll of Swains Island consists of a low-lying ring of coral surrounding a shallow, hypersaline central lagoon that has no connection to the open ocean. The outer perimeter of the atoll (around 13 km in circumference) consists of flat coral reefs that are awash at low tide (tan coloured areas in the above image). A single island (Swains Island) of 1.5 km² in area forms a ring-shaped, continuous, landmass between the lagoon and the outer reefs. Most of the original vegetation of the island has been replaced with coconut palm.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center