Sediment remained suspended in the waters off the Queensland coast of Australia in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on February 5, 2011.
Ocean water that would normally appear navy, instead sports shades of peacock blue. Nearer the coast, the water appears green, especially north of Townsville. The water nearest the shore has likely acquired its sediment load from river runoff, while water farther out to sea probably holds sediment churned up from the sea floor. The sediment is suspended around the Great Barrier Reef.
Twice-daily images of northeast Australia are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
