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Where is it?Winyah Bay , South Carolina . [ 33.19619564 , -79.18145235 ] .
What ’s in the photo?Tea - comparable " blackwater " menstruate into the ocean after Hurricane Sally .
This satellite photo captured Oct. 1, 2020, shows stained “blackwater” pouring out of the Winyah Bay estuary in South Carolina and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Which satellite took the photo?Landsat 8 .
When was it taken?October 1 , 2020 .
This 2020 planet image show up tea - like " blackwater " bleeding into the ocean from South Carolina ’s Winyah Bay around two workweek afterHurricane Sally made landfallandtriggered widespread flash flooding .
Winyah Bay and the four blackwater rivers that feed it all flow through heavily vegetated ecosystems like swamps and forests.
Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that ’s locate near Georgetown , South Carolina , and flow into the Atlantic Ocean . It is feed by four blackwater rivers : the Waccamaw River , the Pee Dee River , the Black River and the Sampit River , all of which run through easterly South Carolina .
Blackwater rivers flow through swamps , wetland , forest and other ecosystems that are rich with decay flora . As it break down , this rotting botany releases chemical substance such as tannin , phenol and humic dot , which defile the pee John Brown — like to brewing tea , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
The staining material is known as colored break up constitutive affair ( CDOM ) . After wakeless rains , the floodwater collect more CDOM and feed into nearby rivers , before being washed into Winyah Bay and then flush into the ocean .
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On Sept. 16 , 2020 , Hurricane Sally made landfall in Alabama with max wind of around 110 mph ( 177 kilometre / h ) . The Category 2 storm dumped up to 30 inch ( 76 centimeter ) of rainfall across Florida , Alabama , Georgia , South Carolina and Louisiana , touch off flash implosion therapy in most of those states , according to aNational Weather Service report .
On Oct. 1 ( the day this photo was accept ) , monitoring stations in Winyah Bay revealed that the levels of CDOM in the estuary were more than 50 % eminent than average for that escort . Most of the CDOM ended up in the ocean , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
increase CDOM levels in the ocean mean that less blue twinkle can penetrate deep into the water column . Only red light can be absorbed deeply below the open , giving the water a rust coloring material when viewed from above .
The change in uncommitted light also affects some photosynthetic alga .
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" If phytoplankton do not have pigments that can occupy ruby light , then they will not be able to photosynthesize,“Tammi Richardson , an oceanographer at the University of South Carolina , told NASA ’s Earth Observatory at the clip . This can have big knocking - on burden on the food webs across the coastal ecosystems , she append .
However , some plankton , such as cryptophytes and diatom , can still take up red light , which lets them thrive in blackwater , according to NASA ’s Earth Observatory .
