Galapagos Islands

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The islands are the Galapagos, situated in the Pacific Ocean roughly 1000 kilometers west of mainland Ecuador. The image is oriented with north toward the bottom and was acquired during Terra orbit 9878. This Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) image covers an area measuring approximately 320 kilometers x 260 kilometers, and was captured by the instrument's vertical-viewing (nadir) camera on October 26, 2001.

There are many interesting facts about the Galapagos Islands:

• Endemic genera of cacti include Brachycereus and Jasminocereus, the lava and candelabra cactus, respectively.

• Flamingos, whose diets include crustaceans, tiny fish, and algae, can be found wading in brackish lagoons. Greater flamingos are primarily seen on Floreana and other southern islands.

• A change in ocean temperature associated with an episodic disruption in atmospheric circulation led to a precipitous decline in the local penguin population. The Galapagos penguin population declined alarmingly during 1972 and 1998, when nutrients and fish were less abundant due to warmer surface waters associated with an El Niño event.

• The islands were officially discovered in 1535 by the Spanish missionary Fray Tomas de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama. His ship veered off course while on a journey from Panama to what is now Peru.

• The volcano of the westernmost island of Fernandina erupted 1988, 1991 and 1995, but there are no permanent human settlements on this island.

• Several plant species are endangered due to decimation by goats and competition with non-native vegetation. Invasive plants such as quinine and guava trees, and invasive animals such as goats, feral cattle, and the cottony cushion scale insect are contributing to the endangered status of native plant species such as the endemic daisy tree and the Floreana flax.

• El Junco Lake on San Cristobal island (at 270 meters in diameter) is the only large freshwater lake in the Galapagos archipelago.

• The Pinta island subspecies of Galapagos Giant Tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus abingdoni) are survived by a single male named "Lonesome George". Attempts to mate Lonesome George with female tortoises of the closest subspecies have not been successful.

• Naturalist Charles Darwin (a native of Shrewsbury, England) recounted his explorations in "Voyage of the Beagle", and Chapter 17 is primarily concerned with the Galapagos.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.