Nukulaelae
- ISS002-E-9884
- 17 July 2001
- 23:55 UTC
The most southeasterly of Tuvalu's atolls and islands, the small atoll of Nukulaelae lies at the southeastern end of the Tuvalu chain — only the island of Niulakita is farther south, 156 km distant; its closest neighbour is the atoll of Funafuti, 110 km to the northwest.
The atoll is elongate in form, covering an area of 45 km². There are two major islands — the narrow and highly elongate Niuoko and Tumiloto — on the eastern rim of the atoll (east is at bottom in this image), and a number of smaller islands grouped around the northern and southern ends; the western rim, with the exception of the island of Fangaua on the northwest, is comprised primarily of submerged and awash reef. The islands and islets have a combined land area of 1.66 km²
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center