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Where is it?Sivash , Crimean Peninsula [ 46.0627481 , 34.3826701 ]
What ’s in the photo?A series of shallow , multicolor lagune known as the " putrid sea "
The Sivash is a roughly 1,000-square-mile region in the north of the Crimean Peninsula. It contains more than a dozen shallow lagoons with a wide variety of different colors.
Which orbiter took the photo?Landsat 8
When was it taken?Sept . 5 , 2014
A deconstructed rainbow of around a 12 multicolor lagoons , collectively known as the " putrid ocean , " takes center stage in this stunning satellite picture seize around a decade ago . The miscellanea of colors — graze from snort , peach and mustard to lime light-green , beige and brilliant blue sky — are cause by several factors , include the microorganisms that survive within the lagune .
Lake Lemuria, also known as “pink lake,” is one of the largest lagoons in the Sivash region. Its reddish hues are the result of the algaeDunaliella saline, which contains beta-carotene.
The lagune extend across theSivash neighborhood — a more or less 3,900 - square - mile ( 10,000 square km ) area of marshland across the northern Crimean Peninsula between the Black Sea to the Dame Rebecca West and the Sea of Azov to the east . The latter is separated from the lagoons only by a narrow-minded piece of farming known as the Arabat Spit .
The colourful puddle are mainly between 2 and 4 ft ( 0.6 and 1.2 meters ) deep , with some deeper pools extending to depths of 10 animal foot ( 3 m ) . They are all hypersaline , signify that they hold high levels of minerals that make them piquant , and have thick layers of silt across their bottom , which can be up to 16 feet ( 5 m ) thick . The white colouring surrounding most lagune in the epitome is a mix of salt and silt .
The regalia of colors in the dissimilar lake ' water is partially due to their respective minerals , acidity and inhabit vegetation . However , the chief gadget driver of semblance is the species of alga that bloom in their amniotic fluid , agree to theU.S. Geological Survey . When the alga bloom in summer , they can give off a pungent , rotten egg - similar smell , which has earned the realm its wicked cognomen .
Soldiers from the Red Army waded through the lagoons in the Sivash region in order to ambush White Army soldiers during the Russian Civil War in November 1920.
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Researchers estimate that there are around 220 million tons ( 200 million metric tons ) of different minerals in the Sivash lagoons . As a event , the area is also home to a large chemical plant life , which siphons off some of these minerals to help make utilitarian chemical , allot toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
The lagoons moderate a range of wildlife and are protected by the International Convention of Wetlands ( ICW ) . The salty shallows are home to a variety of saltiness - resistant industrial plant coinage , including sea lavender ( Limonium caspium ) and saltbush ( Atriplex aucheri ) , and innkeeper to up to 1 million water birds that migrate to the area every winter , according toRamsarwhich oversees the ICW .
The Sivash region has been part ofUkrainesince the profligacy of theSoviet Union . However , it has been under the restraint of Russia since the country invaded Ukraine in 2022 . ( Other parts of the Crimean Peninsula were annex by Russia in 2014 . )
But this is not the first time that the Sivash has direct center stage in conflicts within the region .
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In November 1920 , during the Russian Civil War , the Red Army — the United States Army of the socialist movement head by Vladimir Lenin — successfully becharm the Crimean Peninsula from the White Army — the soldier truehearted to the old Russian imperium — after taking down a major stronghold at Perekop , located along the northern bound of the lagoons .
Perekop was cardinal to bear the Crimean Peninsula and had already successfully repelled multiple front - on attack . In gild to finally take the site , the Red Army launch a surprise attack by wading miles through the lagoons in the dead of night and lash out the White Army from behind . The dispute is known as theSiege of Perekop .
