Atoll in the Pacific – Kiritimati
Atoll in the Pacific – Kiritimati
The coral atoll of Kiritimati has a land area of 321 square kilometres, but also 324 square kilometres of lagoon surface. It is part of the island nation of Kiribati. In 1777, navigator James Cook and his crew celebrated Christmas here and named the island 'Christmas Island'. Viewed through the 'eyes' of the German Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) radar satellite TerraSAR-X at a height of over 500 kilometres, the atoll looks like a porous, fragile structure. North is to the left in the image.
