Raroia
- ISS004-E-6713
- 22 January 2002
- 18:42 UTC
Raroia is a medium-sized, oval-shaped atoll located 53 km northeast from Taenga and 6 km southwest from Takume. The atoll measures 43 km length with a maximum width of around 14 km. The whole formation covers an area of 413 km², with the deep central lagoon having a surface area of 359 km².
Unusually for atolls of the Tuamotu Archipelago, Raroia has its longest axis orientated from southwest to northeast; it shares this atypical orientation with a number of other atolls on the eatern side of the archipelago.
Raroia is the emergent summit of a twin-peaked seamount that rises some 2,600 m above the surrounding ocean floor. Raroia marks the southwestern summit, the smaller atoll of Takume occupies the northeastern summit. Other seamounts with elongated summits that contain two atolls include the Ahe-Manihi and Takapoto-Takaroa seamounts; like the Raroia-Takume seamount, they are orientated southwest to northeast.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center