ISS064-E-424

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Spacecraft nadir point: 31.6° N, 9.0° E

Photo center point: 33.3° N, 11.3° E

Photo center point by machine learning: 33.26° N, 11.35° E

Nadir to Photo Center: Northeast

Spacecraft Altitude: 224 nautical miles (415km)
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Image Caption:

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photograph of a 30-kilometer (20-mile) long lagoon on the eastern shore of Tunisia. A narrow sand bar separates it from the Mediterranean Sea. The small town of Al Marsá appears as a slightly darker zone at the head of the lagoon.

The lagoon is ecologically important. Fish grow to maturity in this protected nursery and then swim out to sea via narrow openings near the middle of the sand bar, making Bibane one of the best known fishing grounds in Tunisia. It is also an important breeding site for migratory shore birds and has been consequently declared a RAMSAR site, a designation for protected wetlands of international ecological significance.

Bathymetric maps show that the long line of lighter-toned shallow water offshore is a drowned shoreline. A small island, barely above sea level, marks the end of this shoreline. This shore was exposed to active wave action when sea level was lower on several occasions in the past million years.

This area has featured in studies of microtopography on Mars. Although not visible from the space station, thin layers of algae form on the salt flats surrounding these coastal lagoons. Known as algal mats, these features have been suggested as possible analogs for small features observed on Mars (//www.sci-news.com/space/science-curiosity-ancient-microbial-life-mars-02389.html) by the Curiosity rover.