Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the
Caribbean, and contains the territory’s capital, Cockburn Town and the
JAGS International Airport. The island is the administrative, historic,
cultural, and financial center of the territory. The name comes from a
species of cactus, the Turk’s Cap Cactus. Founded by Bermudan Salt Rakers
some three hundred years ago, its Bermudan British colonial architecture
makes this a popular tourist stop. The island was first settled by
ancestors of the Tainos, and archaeological remains have been dated to the
8th century.
The image was acquired on September 18, 2001, covers an area of 30 x 39
km, and is located near 21.4 degrees north latitude, 71.1 degrees west
longitude.
With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared
wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters
(about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing
surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments
launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was
built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint
U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of
the instrument and the data products.
The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides
scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface
mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example
applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring
potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud
morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution
monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils
and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.
More information about ASTER is available at http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/.