Welcome back for another chance to play geographical detective!
This image was taken by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on the Terra satellite. The image shows an area of about 238 kilometers by 223 kilometers, with north at the top. Please answer the true or false statements about a country within the image, and then tell us where on Earth you think the location is. You may use any reference materials you need to answer the quiz.
A. From the statements below, please indicate which are TRUE and which are FALSE.
1. The small island off the coastal inlet in the lower left corner is dominated by mangrove swamps, and is a sanctuary to protected sea birds. Parts of the island are off-limits for visitors.
2. Settlers were, perhaps, over-optimistic in their naming policy of this country.
3. The body of water shown on the right of the image is shallow and situated on a single plate, and it is known for its tranquil calm waters and geologic inactivity.
4. The streams and rivers of this country used to be home to a sacred reptile, which has since gone extinct.
5. For centuries, coastal farmers used a powerful fertilizer that they found covering the rocks on the tip of this peninsula during the dry season—thus giving this area its descriptive name.
6. This animal, which can be found in the national park located just below the bottom right of the image, comes down from its perch twice a day to feed its young.
B. What country is shown in this image?
Send your answers, your name (initials are acceptable if you prefer), and your hometown by 4 p.m. PST on Wednesday, November 9, 2011, using the quiz answer form. Answers will be published on the MISR website after November 9. The names and home towns of respondents who answer all questions correctly by the deadline will also be published in the order responses were received. The first three people on this list who are not affiliated with NASA, JPL, or MISR—and who have not previously won a prize—will be sent a print of the image.
A new “Where on Earth...?” mystery will appear periodically. The image appears first on the MISR web site and then on the Earth Observatory, NASA's Climate Change website, and on the Atmospheric Sciences Data Center home page.