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Where is it?Milos and Antimilos , Greece [ 36.78052336 , 24.355555146 ]
What ’s in the photo?The Dominicus fall right away off the surface of the Mediterranean Sea
Sunglints can transform the ocean’s surface when viewed from above, revealing a wide range of different oceanographic phenomena.
Who took the photo?An unnamed astronaut onboard the International Space Station ( ISS )
When was it taken?June 25 , 2022
In this stunning astronaut photo , a rarified " sunglint " transforms the Mediterranean Sea ’s surfaceinto a swirling , ash grey mirrorsurrounding a pair of Hellenic island — Milos ( inwardness ) and Antimilos ( left ) .
Sunglints can cover several hundred square miles of the ocean’s surface at a time.
A sunglint occur when sun muse off a flat body of water directly toward an observer revolve Earth , such as a orbiter or astronaut . It is similar to how light mull over off the sea during morning or sunset . But rather of a bright - Orange River streak reflected off the wave , it look like a massive , silvery fleck that can cover several hundred square miles . From quad , sunglints appear to move across the sea as Earth rotates .
Wind - driven Earth’s surface currents , deeper sea currents , twirl gyres and other oceanographic phenomena cause the wavy line and swirls that cut across the ocean ’s silver airfoil in the image , agree toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
Most of these features would unremarkably be invisible from blank . But because they scatter some of the sunshine ’s illumination , they become visible during a sunglint .
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One of the most outstanding oceanographic feature in the exposure is a whorl spin like a giant whirlpool to the east ( right ) of Milos . Another remarkable feature is the long , straight line of products in the bottom left of the picture , which is most likely the wake from a ship , according to the Earth Observatory .
However , the uncommon phenomenon in the image is a readiness of parallel lines locate just off the northwest seashore ( top unexpended ) of Antimilos . These ancestry , which are part obscured by cloud , are " internal waves " — massive vertical waves that lapse through the water beneath the surface , concord to the Earth Observatory .
Unlike airfoil wave , which are mainly take byocean currentsor potent wind , interior waves are the result of gravity waves ( not to be confuse with gravitative waves in space - time ) , which pass across the interface of two liquid spiritualist whengravitydisrupts the equilibrium between them . In this case , the waves are gurgle along the deluge border between two layers of water that have been stratified by temperature and brininess and disrupted by Earth ’s changing tide , according to a 2021 clause inThe Conversation .
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While sunglints are visually stunning , they can baffle problems for marine scientists who rely on color in planet imagery to monitor the health of the sea . As a resultant , researcher often have to digitally remove them from double , according to theNational Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA ) .
On the other hand , scientists can use sunglints to more accurately measure oil colour spills on the ocean ’s surface , because oil absorbs sunlight rather than excogitate it into distance , according to NOAA .
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