Turbid_Waters_Surround_New_Zealand.jpg
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Summary
Description Turbid Waters Surround New Zealand.jpg |
English:
View of sediment from New Zealand flowing in the
Pacific Ocean
. The volume of sediment in the
water
hints at rough
seas
. Distinctive plumes arise from pulsing rivers, while the
halo
of
turquoise
around both islands is likely sediment swept up to the ocean surface by powerful waves. The plumes fan out and fade from tan to
green
and
blue
with water depth and distance from the shore. The Cook Strait, the narrow strip of water separating the North and South Islands of New Zealand, has a reputation for being among the world’s roughest stretches of water. The islands lie within the “Roaring Forties,” a belt of winds that circles the
globe
around 40 degrees south. The westerlies hit the islands side on and run into the mountain ranges. The Cook Strait is the only opening for the winds, so the channel becomes something of a
wind tunnel
. Strong winds produce high waves, and they erode the shore as shown in the image.
|
Date | |
Source | NASA Earth Observatory |
Author | Norman Kuring |
Image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.
Licensing
Public domain Public domain false false |
|
This image is in the
public domain
because it is a screenshot from
NASA
’s globe software
World Wind
using a public domain layer, such as Blue Marble, MODIS, Landsat, SRTM, USGS or GLOBE.
العربيَّة | English | فارسی | français | עברית | македонски | മലയാളം | Nederlands | русский | 中文(中国大陆) | +/− |
|
Annotations
InfoField
|
This image is annotated: View the annotations at Commons |
4118
2082
165
165
5582
6599
North Island
3314
3107
154
154
5582
6599
South Island
3997
2831
88
88
5582
6599
Cook Strait