Madagascar jellyfish

The Betsiboka estuary in northwest Madagascar is pictured in this image. Here, the country’s largest river flows into Bombetoka Bay, which then opens into the Mozambique Channel. The red colouring of the sandbars and islands between the 'jellyfish tentacles' comes from sediments washed from hills and into the streams and rivers during heavy rain. The seaport city of Mahajanga can be seen in the upper-left corner of the image.

Japan's ALOS satellite captured this image on 17 September 2010 with its AVNIR-2 Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer. ALOS was supported as a Third Party Mission, which means that ESA used its multi-mission ground systems to acquire, process, distribute and archive data from the satellite to its user community. In April 2011 the satellite abruptly lost power while mapping Japan’s tsunami-hit coastline.