• MODIS Pic of the Day 24 January 2023

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Tue Jan 24 11:00:44 2023
    January 24, 2023 - Bloom of Iberian Peninsula

    Bloom
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    A winter phytoplankton bloom colored the waters of the North Atlantic
    Ocean off the Iberian Peninsula in late January 2023. The Moderate
    Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra
    satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene on January 23.

    Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms that live in
    relatively small number in waters in this region year-round. Given
    adequate sunlight and nutrients, phytoplankton can reproduce
    explosively and create colorful blooms that are large enough to be
    visible from space.

    There is some color in the open waters of the North Atlantic, but most
    appears near the coastline off of Portugal. It is likely that recent
    heavy rains and flooding swept sediment and nutrients from the coast
    into the ocean, spurring the growth of phytoplankton. Parts of the
    Iberian Peninsula experienced heavy rain in late December, and Porto, a
    city on the coast of Portugal, reported flooding as recently as January
    8.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Terra
    Date Acquired: 1/23/2024
    Resolutions: 1km (815.3 KB), 500m (2.1 MB), 250m (1.5 MB)
    Bands Used: 1,4,3
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-01-24

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