Algal blooms on the Gulf of Mexico coast, satellite image. North is at left. Clouds are white. This footage zooms in on the mouth of the Mississippi River, flowing south from left, which enters the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. This river annually discharges 500 million tons of sediment into the Gulf, producing these swirling colours. The coastline at the start of the clip stretches for over a thousand kilometres from the Texas coast (lower right), eastwards to Florida on the horizon at top right. Image data obtained on 22 January 2010, by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, part of the Earth Observing System (EOS) |