Cibuni River, Southwest Java, Indonesia
13 February 2006

Note: The area of coverage in this IKONOS image is approximately 3 km x 3 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

The Cibuni rises in the volcanic highlands southwest of Bandung to flow a short distance southwest to the Indian Ocean. Flowing through a well-farmed volcanic landscape, its sediment load is high. The high-density sediment-laden plume of the river sinks below the coastal waters. The gradient offshore is steep and several lines of strongly breaking surf are visible in the image. The strong wave action has given rise to a wide beach, and sediment pushed onshore has limited the width of the Cibuni near the coast. This causes considerable local turbulence, beyond which the sediment transported offshore spreads out in the shape of a concentric radial fan, as progressively diffused it sinks below the water of the Indian Ocean.