Houk
- Landsat 7
- Path 097 Row 055
- 07 March 2000
The solitary island of Houk (Pulusuk) is located within the southwestern corner of Chuuk State, situated 244 km southwest from the outer reefs of Chuuk and 73 km south from Poluwat.
The 2.8 km² island (shown above in false-colour, with vegetation cover in red) is located at the southeastern tip of a 55 km long submarine bank known as Manila Reef (see large size image); its neighbouring island of Poluwat is similar in size and lies at the northwestern end of the Uranie Bank. The low-lying island is thickly vegetated and contains a brackish lake at its northern end. A fringing reef, best developed off the western coast, surrounds much of the island enclosing it within its own narrow lagoon.
Manila Reef extends to the north-northwest from Houk creating an extensive shallow water ecosystem of over 330 km² in area. Typical depths over the reef are in the 2-10 m range and are shallowest over the pronounced rim that surrounds the entire reef.
image: millenium coral reefs landsat archive/usf millenium global coral reef mapping project/nasa seawifs/nasa jsc
