Last updated on March 16, 2014 at 21:20 EDT Kerguelen Island
South Indian Ocean 942 of 3824  Kerguelen Island, South Indian
Ocean  May 9, 2011 On April 25, 2011 the clouds parted over the
South Indian Ocean to reveal Kerguelen Island's tan and green-
tinged landscape. The Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured
this true-color image on the same day.  Kerguelen is the largest
of about 300 islands, islets and reefs in the Kerguelen
Archipelago, a sub-antarctic chain of islands of volcanic origin
located about 3,300 miles (5,310 km) from the southern tip of
Africa. It has also often been called Desolation Island for the
barren, uninhabited landscape. Today there is a small scientific
settlement at Port-aux-Francais which harbors visiting
scientists. This site sits in the northeast, in a sheltered bay,
but is not visible in this image.  The island was named after
Yves de Kerguelen-Tremarec, a Breton Captain sent by King Louis
XV of France in the late 1700's to se