The Florida Keys

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, Posted on: Tuesday, 7 November 2006, 08:01 CST Download full size image

This October 24, 2006 image of Florida was captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite. There are several fires in Florida, represented by red dots. The image has a nice view of the Florida Keys, which is an archipelago of islands that begins at the southeastern tip of Florida and extends west in a gentle arc.

There are about 1700 islands in the Keys. The westernmost populated island is Key West. If you continue west 113 miles, you will come to the uninhabited Dry Tortugas. At the nearest point, the southern tip of Key West is just 90 miles from Cuba.

The Florida Keys are the exposed remains of an ancient coral reef. They have taken their present form due to the drastic changes in sea level that occured during several past ice ages.

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