SPACEPHOTOS

Sado Island, Japan November 1994. The paralleling, northeast-southwest aligned mountains of Sado Island are connected in the middle by a plain. The island is separated from the west coast of Honshu Island by 19 miles (30 km). A small section of the Echigo Plain and a small coastal mountain (darker feature) located south of the city of Niigata are visible in the upper left corner of the image. Administratively Sado Island is part of Niigata prefecture. Notice that the sun’s reflection off the water’s surface (a phenomenon known as sunglint or sun glitter) has created a light colored image. The sunglint does identify a dark area north of the island, thereby providing a clue as to the direction of the water flow or current around Sado Island (in this case flowing from south to north), creating an island wake along the north side of the island