English: On August 18, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired a stunning true-color image of Australia’s northwest coast.

Most of the land in this image belongs to the Kimberly, one of the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. The Kimberly holds the distinction of being one of the hottest parts of Australia, with the average annual mean temperature reported near 81°F (27°C), with temperatures often reaching over 104°F (40°C) inland at the end of the summer dry season in early November.

Much of the Kimberly coastline is wild and extremely remote, with few or no roads available to access the region. Other sections, such as Cable Beach on the large Dampier Peninsula are more populated and accessible to tourists. Away from the coast most of the Kimberly supports a savannah-like grassland that is one of the prime cattle-grazing areas of Australia. The rugged terrain, especially near the north-west coast, provides specialized conditions for surprising niche ecosystems, such as pockets of rainforest. Most of the vegetation on the Dampier Peninsula is known as pindan woodland – an area of scrubby forest that contrasts greatly from the grassland further south.