Ouvéa
- STS033-73-65
- 23 November 1989
- 22:47 UTC
Situated midway along the submarine Loyalty Ridge, Ouvéa is located 45 km northwest from Lifou (the largest island of the Loyalty Islands group), and 76 km across the deep Loyalty Basin from the outer barrier reefs of Grande Terre's eastern coast. 15 km north from Ouvéa's Passe d'Anemata is the small Beautemps-Beaupré Atoll (at bottom-left in the above image).
Ouvéa comprises a 35 km long, curved island consisting of two large blocks of limestone connected by a narrow (400 m wide) isthmus. In addition there are two smaller islands to the south (bottom in this image). Together they curl around in an arc covering 132 km². The main coral island is raised on the eastern side (ocean-side), where cliffs rise to 46 m.
On the western side of Ouvéa's 35 km-wide lagoon lies a chain of 21 tiny islets known as the Pléiades. The chain is split in to two sections — Pléiades du Nord and Pléiades du Sud — by the Passe d'Anemata, the largest pass into the lagoon.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
