• MODIS Pic of the Day 04 November 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Fri Nov 4 12:00:32 2022
    November 4, 2022 - Lake Michigan in Bloom

    Lake Michigan
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    Milky turquoise swirls tinted the southern tip of Lake Michigan on
    November 1, 2022, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging
    Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a
    true-color image of the third-largest Great Lake. The bright colors
    extend near the coastline from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the west to
    Benton Harbor, Michigan in the east. In addition, a cloud of
    lighter-toned hues color deeper water in the southeastern section of
    the lake, roughly from Muskegon, Michigan to La Porte, Indiana.

    The color most likely comes from a combination of sediment and
    phytoplankton. At the start of October, the waters of southern Lake
    Michigan appeared dark blue and were nearly free of jewel-toned stains.
    A series of cloudy days with gusty wind kicked up sediment near the
    southern shores, especially from October 16-18, leaving the southern
    coastal waters tinted muddy brown on October 19. Over the next few
    days, the sediment was carried eastward and into deeper waters. The
    color of sediment changes from tan to greenish or blue-green as it
    sinks below the surface.

    Now, almost two weeks after the cold and gusty front moved over the
    lake, the color along the shoreline has thinned while the color in the
    deeper water has expanded. This strongly suggests that phytoplankton,
    which live in the lake year-round, have taken advantage of the extra
    nutrients provided by the stirred-up sediment and have begun to
    reproduce explosively to create a large bloom.

    Phytoplankton are microscopic algae which contain the pigment
    chlorophyll and float freely in the sunlit upper layers of marine
    environments, including the Great Lakes. Blooms are most common in the
    spring and summer in the Great Lakes, when water is warm and daylight
    is long. However, late-season blooms can occur, especially when
    nutrients become plentiful.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Terra
    Date Acquired: 11/2/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (218.6 KB), 500m (610.5 KB), 250m (1.3 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=2022-11-04

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