The gracefully swirling clouds that sweep over hundreds of kilometers in this photo-like image are beautiful, but they were likely bringing heavy snow and strong winds to ships in the South Atlantic Ocean on April 29, 2009.
Published May 2, 2009
The most important natural factor behind drought in the Sahel seems to be a cyclical shifting of ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic.
Published Sep 6, 2016
Reminiscent of the distinctive swirls in a Van Gogh painting, millions of microscopic plants color the waters of the North Atlantic with strokes of blue, turquoise, green, and brown. Fed by nutrients that have built up during the winter and the long, sunlit days of late spring and early summer, the cool waters of the North Atlantic come alive every year with a vivid display of color. The microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, that give the water this color are the base of the marine food chain.
Published Jul 3, 2007
The MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite collected this natural-color view of cloud streets over the ocean off of New England and the Canadian Maritimes on January 24, 2011.
Published Feb 15, 2011
July 2019 brought the latest display of a phytoplankton bloom that occurs every year in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Published Jul 15, 2019
In this photo-like image of a dust storm blowing out of southern Argentina, turbulence creates ripples in a cloud of dust that complements the long waves of color created by a phytoplankton bloom in the Atlantic Ocean below.
Published Jan 26, 2010
