Clouds of tan and blue and green line Italy’s eastern shore in this natural-color image from April 6, 2010. The color is sediment billowing out from the shore into the Adriatic Sea. High concentrations of sediment are tan. As the dirt disperses, the water turn pale blue green.
The sediment probably comes from run off after spring rain showers or from melting snow in the Apennine Mountains. In the large image, which shows a broader area, some of the peaks are still capped in snow. Numerous rivers link the mountains to the coast. The rivers are pale, faint tan lines that cut across the green landscape.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image. The large image is the highest resolution image available, 250 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System.
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NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
