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Here’s another chance to play geographical detective! This Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) image covers an area of about 298 kilometers x 358 kilometers, and was captured by the instrument’s vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on December 27, 2001. Use any reference materials you like and answer the following five questions:

1. The large lagoon in the image is named for a particular type of bird. Name the bird.
    
2. Note the sediment plume emanating from the southern end of the lagoon. Sailors in the 16th century imagined this outlet to be the mouth of a large river. What did they call the river?
    
3. A series of wave-like points and curls form “cusps” on the inner shores of the lagoon. Which ONE of the following is most responsible for the formation of these cusps?
    
   1. Violent storm impacts on erosion and accretion
   2. Wind and tide-driven sediment transport and circulation
   3. Tectonic folding associated with nearby mountain ridges
   4. Bathymetric effects of dredging operations
       
4. True or false: Changes in regional precipitation associated with large scale atmospheric circulation patterns have no effect on the salinity of the lagoon’s water.
    
5. Which one of these is NOT distributed within the area covered by this image?
   1. Ruppia maritima
   2. Chelonia mydas
   3. Tapirus bairdii
   4. Microcystis aeruginosa
       

E-mail your answers, name (initials are acceptable if you prefer), and your hometown by Tuesday, February 19, 2002 to suggestions@mail-misr.jpl.nasa.gov.

Answers will be published on the MISR web site in conjunction with the next weekly image release. The names and home towns of respondents who answer all questions correctly by the deadline will also be published in the order responses were received. The first 3 people on this list who are not affiliated with NASA, JPL, or MISR and who did not win a prize in the last quiz will be sent a print of the image.

A new “Where on Earth...?” mystery appears as the MISR “image of the week” approximately once per month. A new image of the week is released every Wednesday at noon Pacific time on the MISR home page http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov. The image also appears on the Atmospheric Sciences Data Center home page, http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov, though usually with a several-hour delay.

Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.