Astronomy Picture of the Day 4-2-02

NASA ^ | 4-2-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 April 2

Mysterious Black Water in Florida Bay
Credit & Copyright: ORBIMAGE, SeaWiFS, NASA

Explanation: What is causing the water in Florida Bay to turn black? The mysterious black color could be seen as early as last December in images taken by the SeaWIFS instrument on board the Earth-orbiting SeaStar satellite. During the darkest period in February, when the above image was taken, visibility in the usually transparent/turquoise water dropped below three meters. Samples have been taken and are currently being analyzed. Early tests show the black water has normal salinity and oxygen and might be an unusual nontoxic algae bloom. Whatever the cause, the black water has real ecological and economic consequences, as normally abundant fish are completely absent. More recent SeaWIFS images show the black water to be breaking up into smaller pockets.

[petuniasevan]

Interesting phenomenon.

South Florida FReepers care to comment?

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

FReepers: You can now ask to be on the APOD PING list or subscribe to the APOD topic!

[farmfriend]

Read a thread on this earlier. Nice to see a picture of it. I'll try to post a link to the earlier thread.

[farmfriend]

Earlier Black Water thread.

[RightWhale]

Was the former Big Bubba in Florida in the past few months?

[riley1992]

This has become a daily ritual for me to share with my daughters' now. They love the photos as much as I do. Thanks.

[riley1992]

This one was posted here in December of 2000. It still amazes me every time I see it.

Space Station Night Photo of the Americas

[Graewoulf]

WOW! Any suggestions as to how I can print out all of this image? My printer just prints out the NE Pacific.

[riley1992]

WOW! Any suggestions as to how I can print out all of this image? My printer just prints out the NE Pacific.

I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea how you could do that. Maybe Registered could help you?

[Registered]

You need to import it into a graphics program, or maybe even a word processor. Then adjust it to fit to a single page. You can import it into the word processor by using the clip board. Right click on the image, select Copy. Then open your a word processor or graphics program and click Paste. Should work for you.

[Graewoulf]

THANK YOU!

I, sir, am FOREVER in your debt!

You are a gentleman, and a scholar, and there are damn few of us left!

[LibWhacker]

I'd be more worried that South Florida is turning gold!

[Redcloak]

Which one is the monkeyfishing island?