Earth from Space - Image Description

NM23-716-419 Gulf of Aqaba, Saudi Arabia Winter/Spring 1997
Trending in a north-northeast, south-southwest direction, the Gulf of Aqaba can be seen in this west-looking view. An arm of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba is 118 miles (190 km) long, and 10 miles (16 km) wide. The gulf is situated between the Sinai Peninsula (bottom portion of image) and the Arabian Peninsula (top portion of the image). It is a part of the Great Rift Valley. The Gulf is a major shipping route for the city ports of Elat, Israel, and Aqaba, Jordan (not visible) at the northern end of the gulf. In the bottom right portion of the image, the granitic ridges of the Musa (Sinai) Mountains are visible. Mount Katherine (Mount Sinai) is visible near the bottom center of the image. In the upper right portion of the image, the rugged Lawz Mountains of Saudi Arabia are discernible.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Earth Science & Remote Sensing Unit, ARES Division, Exploration Integration Science Directorate.