From NASA Earth:
Blooms in the Caspian SeaGiven adequate sunlight and nutrients, phytoplankton populations can swell into blooms large enough to be visible from space. On August 3, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image of several blooms in the Caspian Sea.Phytoplankton blooms are often harmless, and are an important food source for marine life. Other times, blooms can be harmful; they can deplete the water’s oxygen and suffocate marine life, and produce toxins that can be harmful to both aquatic creatures and humans.
Lake Urmia is visible west of the Caspian Sea. Microscopic organisms periodically turn the lake’s salty water striking shades of red and orange.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=90720
Read more about Lake Urmia:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD//view.php?id=88395
#Phytoplankton #CaspianSea #Satellite #NASA
From NASA Earth:
Smog and Haze in Northern ChinaMany parts of eastern China were put on orange alert on December 4, 2016, when heavy smog veiled large swaths of the country. The haze stranded passengers at airports in northern China and slowed down city life in Beijing, which reached orange alert level on December 1.An orange alert signals heavy pollution—a PM2.5 (particulate matter) density of more than 150 micrograms per cubic meter of air—for three consecutive days. Such high concentration of fine particles in the air can cause lung and heart problems for vulnerable individuals, including asthmatics, children, and the elderly.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this natural-color image of northeastern China on December 6. Photos taken from the ground also showed low visibility—less than 200 meters (roughly 650 feet), according to news reports. On December 5, People’s Daily reported smog blanketing more than 60 Chinese cities.
Low winter temperatures exacerbate smog since they cause temperature inversions. Warm air settles atop a layer of cooler, denser, smog-ridden air, trapping it like a lid. High concentrations of smog frequently appear in cities like Beijing during winter.
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From NASA Earth:
There's more space in your life than you think. NASA technologies are benefiting life on Earth in the form of commercial products. NASA research and development has tangible benefits that go beyond supporting mission needs. Spinoffs create jobs, generate revenue, and save costs for businesses. They even save lives. Through new medical devices, agricultural products, innovative consumer goods, and more, NASA technology works for the benefit of the nation and the world.Here, smoke from forest fires in Indonesia can be seen in an aerial image from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, used for both spotting and forecasting rainforest wildfires. http://go.nasa.gov/2gZrJPA
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From NASA Earth:
Iberá Wetlands in SunglintAn astronaut flying over central South America was following the Sun’s reflection point (also known as sunglint) as it flashed across the water surfaces of the Iberá Wetlands. Sunglint makes for startling images that appear more like black-and-white photos. The many bright, irregular, elongated patches (especially on the lower right) are bigger lakes, while the smaller, more circular features are hundreds of tiny ponds (upper left). Interestingly, the name Iberá comes from ý berá, the local Guaraní words meaning “bright water.”
South America’s second-largest river, the Paraná, used to flow through this area from top right to lower left. The river built up a great inland delta, leaving the larger lakes in the slightly lower areas of the floodplain. The tiny lakes are situated on older river terraces, which stand 3 to 9 meters higher than the average local elevation. The region is so waterlogged that farming is difficult and is restricted to the higher, drier ground. (See the farm fields near the top right.)
It is unclear why the higher areas have the lakelets, or why they are so round in shape. But one idea is that during very dry times in the last Ice Age, dry winds scoured out numerous hollows, as we see in many deserts today. When the climate grew wetter, these depressions filled with water and marshy vegetation colonized the shorelines. As sediment slowly washed into the lakelets, all angular shoreline shapes became smoothed and rounded. The smallest ponds are almost completely filled with vegetation, except for a halo along the shorelines where open water reflects the Sun. It is unclear why the ponds have developed this interesting vegetation pattern.
http://go.nasa.gov/2h6R6Oe
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