Western Australia

Credit: Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Thursday, 10 June 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

Off the central coastline of Western Australia, colorful waters around Shark Bay stand in sharp contrast to the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean (left) and the reddish landscape of Grey's Plains (right). The Bay is split into a western and an eastern half by Peron Peninsula, and in fact, the interior part of the eastern half is virtually cut off from the rest of the Bay by islands and sand bars. This isolation has created a hypersaline environment, where the waters and much saltier than the rest of the Bay. In the image, these waters appear turquoise. On the ocean side, the barrier between Bay and Ocean is created by a narrow point of land separated by a small passage from Dirk Hartog Island. This Aqua MODIS image of the region was captured on May 27, 2004.

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