The Black Sea

Phytoplankton blooms and plumes of sediment form the bright blue swirls
that ring the Black Sea in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiomete (MODIS)
image.

Sediment flows into the sea through the vast network of
rivers that empty into it. The sediment tints the water tan near the mouth
of the river and green as the dirt diffuses through the water. In this
image, sediment clouds the Sea of Azov in the upper right corner of the
image. Two powerful rivers, the Don and the Kuban, flow into the shallow
sea, depositing silt in the waters.

Sediment is not the only thing
that flows into the Black Sea on river water. Some of Europe’ largest
rivers also deposit fertilizer from agricultural run-off in the Black Sea,
and that feeds frequent phytoplankton blooms. Phytoplankton are
microscopic plants that can be seen from space when large colonies grow in
one place. Most of the agricultural run-off enters the Sea through the
Danube River, the bright green area on the upper left side of the Sea. The
water around the river’s mouths is tinted dark green, probably from
the growth of surface phytoplankton. The phytoplankton blooms are a problem
because their growth and decay can consume all of the available oxygen in a
region, creating dead zones where fish cannot live.

From the upper
left corner, the countries around the Sea are Moldova, Ukraine, Russia,
Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired
this image on May 22, 2004.

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Images by the MODIS Rapid Response team.

Published May 22, 2004
Data acquired May 22, 2004

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

Rapid Response Gallery