March 10, 2021 - The Persian Gulf

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   The Persian Gulf
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   The blue waters of the Persian Gulf were colored with swirls of greens
   and teal in early March 2021. The Moderate Resolution Imaging
   Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a
   true-color image of the scene on March 7.

   Clouds of green swirling near the shore appears to be sediment that has
   been washed into the water from the land. Sediment can be carried by
   rain, washed from the shoreline or churned up from the bottom by tides
   or waves, or blown in by wind. Given the arid climate with nearly sand
   seas and deserts, at least some of the sediment is likely to have come
   from dust storms, but the location is suggestive of water action on
   relatively shallow bottoms.

   Along the northern edge of the Persian Gulf, the Shatt al Arab River
   spills large amounts of sediment into the waters. The sediment appears
   tan where it is close to the surface. As sediment sinks, the
   reflectivity changes and it then appears green. As it sinks further,
   sediment can leave just a faint stain in the waters. All of these color
   changes are visible from at mouth of the Shatt al Arab and stretch far
   into the Gulf.

   The Persian Gulf is flanked by the Arabian Peninsula with its vast tan,
   pink and white sand deserts in the south and west, and the dry
   mountains of Iran in the north. The pinch-point in the east is the
   Strait of Hormuz, a narrow constriction that connects the Persian Gulf
   with the Gulf of Oman.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 3/7/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (733.1 KB),  500m (1.8 MB),  250m (1.1 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-03-10
 
