Farallon de Medinilla
- Landsat 7
- Path 100 Row 49
- 17 August 1999
The island of Farallon de Medinilla lies 83 km northeast from Saipan and 53 km southeast from Anatahan. It is the smallest of the Mariana Islands — with an area of 0.9 km² — and measures 3 km in length (orientated northeast to southwest) with a maximum width of 700 m.
The narrow and elongate island is a raised coral limestone formation with a flat plateau-like interior reaching a height of 81 m, and is bound by tall friable cliffs on all sides. The northern two-thirds are nearly separated from the southern third where the island narrows dramatically. The interior contains bare rock and patches of limestone scrub.
Formerly a live-bombing range, the island is an important nesting and breeding site for birds such as the Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor), Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra), Brown Booby (S. leucogaster ), Red-footed Booby (S. sula), Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata), Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) , Black Noddy (A. minutus), Fairy Tern (Gygis alba) and Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda).
image: millennium coral reefs landsat archive/usf millennium global coral reef mapping project/nasa seawifs/nasa jsc