Earth from Space - Image Description

STS087-701-053 Hainan Island, China November 1997
The southwest coast of Hainan Island, China's second largest island has a variety of landforms. Scattered clouds cover many of the higher mountainous features. Maximum elevations in the densely vegetated (dark terrain) mountains range from 2000 feet (610 m) to over 4000 feet (1220 m) above sea level. Numerous short flowing rivers including the Changhua River (light-colored, linear feature near bottom center) drain into the Gulf of Tonkin. Based on the sediment (plume) pattern and distribution along the coast, current flow is towards the south, southeast. The lighter-colored land areas show where a variety of agricultural activities are taking place on the coastal plains and in some of the river valleys.

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