March 15, 2022 - Waters off of Florida

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On March 12, 2022, clouds covered southwestern Florida as a vicious
winter storm pushed across the state, bringing severe winds, torrential
rain, and even a few tornadoes to the state. When the clouds cleared on
March 13, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of a
spectacular halo of color of the southwestern coast, extending from
Florida Bay to well north of Fort Myers.

The striking colors in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay are mostly
likely caused by heavy sediment. According to local media, winds topped
76 mph (122.3 km/h) on March 12 as the storm battered central Florida.
If the winds were sustained for one minute, that would be equivalent to
the wind speed of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Wind Scale. An EF-1 tornado touched down in Ocala in central
Florida, carrying winds of 110 mph (177 km/h), knocking out power to
more than 6,000 people. The tornado travelled about 25 miles (120 km)
through Marion County. A waterspout churned the waters off of Ft.
Meyers that same day, catching the attention of beach goers at a local
resort who posted photos of the spout to social media. It then came
over land and touched down briefly before dissipating. Fort Myers sits
on the Gulf Coast near the top of this image. Ocala is located to
northeast of Fort Meyers.

The storm system moved over the Gulf of Mexico before striking Florida,
carrying plenty of wind to kick up significant waves. The blowing wind
and wicked waves likely churned large amount of sediment from the
shallow seafloor near Florida’s coastline. Runoff from the land as
torrential rain swept across the state also likely contributed to the
sediment. While sediment appears brown or muddy-tan when floating near
the surface, as it sinks the reflectivity of the tiny particles of
sediment change, making it appear green or blue. The Florida Bay,
surrounding and just north of the chain of islands known as the Florida
Keys, has a very shallow bottom which is rich is carbonate mud. Similar
to limestone, carbonate often appears white when suspended in water,
and carbonate mud or sediment rich in carbonate lends a milky-green or
milky-blue hue.

The NASA Worldview App gives an easy way to compare changes over time
in any given area on Earth. To view Aqua MODIS images acquired before
the storm (March 9) and on March 13, after the storm, click here
.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/13/2022
Resolutions: 1km (107.8 KB), 500m (367.2 KB), 250m (1.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-03-15

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