O.T.: Life on a Remote Atoll
Sometimes I wish I lived on a remote island (or in the case, atoll) like this one:
This was taken on the International Space Station on May 31st. It was brought to my attention by this NASA Earth Observatory page which recently came online. A very large version can be downloaded from the ISS site (warning: the original photo is upside down, with N at the bottom). A description of the photo, courtesy NASA, is below:
This daydreaming comes from two places. One, that overall need to "get away from it all" which we all often experience. Two, my love of the tropics and coastal areas. Of course, I'd never survive on a remote island, what with allergies, bad vision, and a serious dependency on high-speed internet and air conditioning. I did consider once, fresh out of college, working on Kwajalein. It may be an atoll in the middle of the Pacific, but they *do* have their own NEXRAD there. However, after researching it on the Internet, the promise of "no access to modern medical facilities" and rumors of high levels of cancer (caused by nuclear testing there) made my decision for me.
After all this credit was given to the ISS for the photo taken above, I realized that Google Maps has extremly high-res shots of both Nukuoro and Kwajalein which beat the ISS resolution (still though, it's cool that a human took that photo). So feel free to explore and daydream.
A description of the island is below, courtesy NASA. It must be a beautiful, simple life. By the Google maps, the vegetation on Nukuoro looks pretty much undisturbed, and it's hard to judge by the maps but this little guy might be close enough to the equator to avoid typhoons.
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