Bright Waters off Peru

Credit: Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC, Posted on: Saturday, 28 February 2004, 06:00 CST Download full size image

The true-color image above shows a patch of bright water off the coast of Chincha Alta, Peru, roughly 200 km (124 miles) south of Lima. The scene was acquired on February 23, 2004, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua Satellite. The bright yellow-green coloration of the water is probably the result of biological activity—possibly either some species of algae, or possibly even sulfur granules suspended near the surface (similar to the sulfur event that occurs occasionally off the coast of Namibia). The waters along the west coast of South America are some of the most biologically fertile in the world. This is due mainly to the Humboldt Ocean Current—a very cold, deep current flowing from Antarctica past the southern tip of Chile and northward to Peru.

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