In the southeastern corner of the Baltic Sea lies a skinny stretch of land. Known as the Curonian (or Courland) Spit, it separates the Curonian Lagoon (also known as the Courland Lagoon) from the Baltic Sea. Both the spit and the lagoon fall within the borders of Lithuania and Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast.
Published Nov 2, 2007The waters around this Italian city provide a study in how humans affect the seas and how the seas affect human settlement.
Published Jun 2, 2014Acquired September 18, 2009, this true-color image of Laguna Ojo de Liebre on Baja California shows the margins of industrialized salt works in the east and a famed marine mammal wintering site in the west.
Published Sep 27, 2009The waters that once protected Venice now threaten it. A complex engineering project is being installed to beat back the tide.
Published Mar 25, 2014This lagoon along the Brazil-Uruguay border formed when sea level was much higher, and has since evolved from a marine to freshwater lake.
Published Jan 16, 2017Sand spits and other wind- and wave-built patterns distinguish the south coast of Brazil.
Published May 2, 2016Speckled with blue and white icebergs, the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon is a stunning landscape, but also a relatively new one.
Published Dec 12, 2019In the last three decades, Egypt has greatly modified a series of lagoons and lakes along the northeast coast of the Nile Delta for the production of fish. Partial sunglint in this astronaut photograph reveals numerous details in one such fishery. Sunglint is light reflected directly back from a surface—usually water—to the viewer (or to a camera or satellite sensor). Waves generated by northwesterly winds (lower left to upper right in this view) have created the frond-like sand spit along the coast (image top). Faint sea swells are visible at image upper left as a pattern of dark and light lines. Dark patches in the center of the image are shadows cast by small clouds, which appear pewter-gray compared to the golden sunglint on the watery surfaces below.
Published Oct 30, 2006This astronaut photo of Millennium Island shows emerald islets surrounding a turquoise lagoon dotted with coral.
Published Jul 13, 2009