Satellite image of the week: Dark swaths in the Sunshine State

It looks as if an artist had a couple of tank loads of black ink to flow into the sea. Just the fascinating effect to watch the results in the mixture of the black broth with the deep blue of the sea water.

But in the picture it is not a flashy color or a weird art project. There is also a so-called false-colour image, the use Geoforscher like to be able to by means of coloring a specific spatial data.

The unusual color mixture on the image is created in a natural way: The satellite image shows the Gulf of Mexico, specifically the West coast of Florida. Up to Tampa, the third largest city of the U.S. state, South-East for about 200 kilometres in the direction of.

But why is the water along the coast is on the black? Fortunately, it's not an oil Spill flooded the Gulf and its Ecosystems. Blame on the black water of the Suwannee River carries, its history, as well as the estuary are near the upper right edge will be visible.

of The more than 400 kilometres long, the Suwannee is considered to be one of the most pristine rivers in Florida. It originates in the Sahabet Okefenokee swamp in Georgia. The Suwannee, once by musicians such as George Gershwin, Bing Crosby, or the folk bard Pete Seeger sung, is a so-called blackwater river. He transported from the marshes of Sediment and a lot of organic Material.

black water rivers flow very slowly. In addition, her often acidic water is treated with vegetable tanning agents, it is almost a little like tea. Unlike other black water rivers, some of which in the Amazon region, but many are located in the South of the USA, the Suwannee his dark color to his all the way to the sea.

The Nasa earth observation satellite "Landsat 8", has photographed this impressive play of colors at the Gulf mouth now. Due to the black color, you will recognize clearly the Freshwater influx into the Gulf, the researchers write. It should be something like the Echo of the swamp.

"Landsat 8" has the recording already in 2015, shot, Nasa has released but it is only now, on a happy circumstance: This picture was submitted by the Geoforscherin Alice Alonso in a photo competition and is now one of the profit contributions from the NC State Envisioning Science Image Contest. Congratulations!

joe