Russia - May 16th, 2012

Fires by the southern tip of Lake Baikal release a cloud of smoke over Russian Siberia. Although multiple blazes can be observed both north and south of the end of the lake, the fires to the south are releasing more smoke. In that area, strong winds have also carried the smoke further afield, reaching across a great distance towards the bottom edge of the image.

Mexico - May 16th, 2012

Fires have been burning by the western coast of Mexico, near the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental, over the last week (click here for images captured earlier this month). Here, plumes of smoke from the fires can be observed just west of an area of cloud-cover. There does not appear to be much wind, or winds blowing constantly in the same direction, as the plumes of smoke are remaining confined near the source of the blazes.

Tropical Storm Aletta (01E) - May 16th, 2012

Enhanced image

Track of TS 01E

As of 2 p.m. PDT (2100 UTC) May 16, Tropical Storm Aletta (01E), the first storm of the 2012 Pacific Hurricane Season, is located within 30 nautical miles of 11.4°N 113.5°W, about 830 mi (1335 km) south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.

Maximum sustained winds are 35 knots (40 mph, 65 km/h), with stronger gusts. Minimum central pressure is 1004 mbar (hPa; 29.65 InHg), and the system is moving west at 8 kt (9 mph, 15 km/h). Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 45 miles (75 km) from the center of Aletta.

Visible to the east of Aletta in the full images is a broad low pressure area located about 500 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico. It has changed little over the past several hours, although environmental conditions are generally conducive for slow development of this system during the next few days. This system has a medium chance (30 percent) of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours as it moves slowly to the northwest.

South Africa - May 15th, 2012

Visible near the bottom of this image is the Western Cape region of South Africa, an area with great topographical diversity. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt, a range of sandstone folded mountains. The far interior forms part of the Karoo Basin and is generally arid and hilly with a sharp escarpment in the north. Coastal areas range from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. Located by the coast in the lower left quadrant are Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope.

Moving northwards, visible crossing the upper part of the image is the Orange River, appearing as a thick green line, despite what its name might suggest. Some sediments can be seen entering the Atlantic Ocean by the river’s mouth. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Namibia and between South Africa and Lesotho, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Visible near the coast in Namibia, north of the river, is the southern part of the Namib Desert.

Australia - May 15th, 2012

Multiple plumes of smoke from wildifres in the northern part of Australia’s Northern Territory can be observed here. While the smoke from the fires is virtually always blowing towards the northwest, the size and intensity of the plumes vary, depending on the size of the fire and the wind conditions in the area. Visible by the coast are sediments in Van Diemen Gulf (top center) and the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf (left).

Canada and USA - May 14th, 2012

Lake Superior (above), shared by the United States and Canada, and Lake Michigan (below), the only one of the Great Lakes located entirely in the USA, appear mostly sediment-free in this spring image of North America. What may be a trail of smoke, however, from a fire whose source cannot be identified here, can be seen blowing across Lake Superior. It is particularly concentrated over a peninsula jutting out into the lake known as Upper Peninsula, belonging to the state of Michigan.

Canada - May 14th, 2012

Smoke blows across the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan (left) and Manitoba (right), but does not reach southward over the border with the United States (lower half of image, smoke-free). The veil of smoke is denser over Saskatchewan, yet manages to hinder the viewing of Lake Winnipeg (right) and Lake Winnipegosis (left, slightly lighter in color than the former, due to sediments), in Manitoba.

Tropical Storm Aletta (01E) - May 14th, 2012

Enhanced image

Track of TS 01E

On May 12, the NHC reported that a tropical disturbance formed, about 550 miles south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. The storm quickly moved northwest before stalling, and then began to strengthen rapidly.

Early on May 14, the tropical disturbance intensified into a tropical depression, becoming the first storm of the season. Tropical Depression One-E formed one day before the official start of the 2012 Pacific hurricane season. This marks the first time that a tropical cyclone has formed before the official start of hurricane season, in the East Pacific basin since 1996, when Tropical Storm One-E formed on May 13, 1996.

Late on May 14, the storm intensified into Tropical Storm Aletta, with 40 mph (65 km/h) 1-minute sustained winds. As of 8 p.m. PDT (0300 UTC) May 15, Tropical Storm Aletta is located within 30 nautical miles of 10.5°N 108.5°W, about 650 mi (1045 km) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Maximum sustained winds are 35 knots (40 mph, 65 km/h), with stronger gusts. Minimum central pressure is 1004 mbar (hPa; 29.65 InHg), and the system is moving west at 10 kt (12 mph, 19 km/h).

Australia - May 15th, 2012

Tan sediments flow into Broad Sound, a large bay on the east coast of Australia. It is located in the state of Queensland 675 km northwest of the state capital, Brisbane. The Torilla Peninsula forms the eastern side of the bay; Shoalwater Bay is on the other side of the peninsula.

The sound is about 50 km long and 20 km across at its widest point. It has a low-lying coastline with wide mudflats exposed at low tide and backed by extensive areas of mangroves. The head of the bay has the greatest tidal range on Australia’s east coast – around 9 m. The coastline is punctuated by the mangrove-lined estuaries of several rivers and creeks, including Herbert and St Lawrence Creeks and the Styx River. Behind the mangroves is a hinterland of low, rounded hills covered by a mix of grassland and low eucalypt woodland or forest. The climate is subtropical with a dry winter.

Argentina - May 13th, 2012

Sediments can be seen along part of the coastline of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. They are particularly dense by Bahía Blanca (center left edge), where the Naposta Stream flows past Bermejo Island and Trinidad Island, into the Atlantic Ocean. While the central part of the coastline shows fewer sediments, another dense load is visible in the lower part of Samborombón Bay, at the end of the Rio de la Plata Estuary, in the upper right corner. There, the sediments appear darker in color than those by Bahía Blanca.

Mexico - May 13th, 2012

Fires continue to burn parallel to the western coast of Mexico, near the mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental (click here for images captured earlier this month). Here, clouds have formed above the mountains, making it difficult to discern the individual blazes; however, the source of one large fire can be observed in the upper left quadrant. Smoke from the fires blows southwestward, over the coast, creating a veil over the southern part of the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) and a section of the Pacific Ocean.

Russia - May 14th, 2012

A plume of smoke blows southward off the coast of Russia, over the Sea of Okhotsk, between Sakhalin Island (left edge) and the Kamchatka Peninsula (right edge). A thinner veil of smoke is also visible over Shakhalin, blowing eastward towards Kamchatka. At the bottom of the Kamchatka Peninsula, by the left edge (best viewed in the full image) is the snow-capped Bolshaya Ipelka Volcano, an immense shield volcano.

Australia - May 12th, 2012

Fires in the northern part of Western Australia release plumes of smoke that blow due west. Fire season in this part of Australia usually begins in May and ends in November. Since the region is currently at the beginning of its dry season, vegetation in the area is still relatively moist, meaning that fires should be relatively easy to contain. Click here to see images of fires in the region in late April, before the official beginning of the fire season.

Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil - May 13th, 2012

This image of South America stretches across Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. The Argentine border is basically demarcated by the Uruguay River, flowing down from the upper part of the image and joining with the Paraná River in the lower left quadrant to create the sediment-filled Rio de la Plata Estuary. The city of Buenos Aires is visible on the lower shores of the estuary.

In the upper part of the image, the outline of the Argentine province of Misiones appears dark green, in contrast with the surrounding terrain of Brazil (to the northeast) and Paraguay (to the northwest). Visible along the Paraguay border is the lake created by the Yacyretá Dam, a dam and hydroelectric power plant built over the waterfalls of Jasyretâ-Apipé on the Paraná River, between the Argentine Province of Corrientes and the Paraguayan City of Ayolas.

Finally, visible in the lower right quadrant, by the Uruguay-Brazil border, are two large, sediment-filled lagoons: Laguna Merín (Lagoa Merim), shared by the two countries (below), and Lagoa dos Patos, located entirely in Brazil (above).

Spain and Morocco - May 11th, 2012

The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. Europe and Africa are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.3 km; 8.9 mi) of ocean at the strait’s narrowest point.

The Strait’s depth ranges between 300 and 900 metres (160 and 490 fathoms; 980 and 3,000 ft). Here, the strait appears mostly sediment free, as do the waters of the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Some sediments are visible where the Guadalquivir River enters the Gulf of Cádiz by the city of Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Australia - May 12th, 2012

Sediments surround Melville Island and fill the Van Diemen Gulf, off the coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. Melville Island is located in the Timor Sea, west of the Cobourg Peninsula in Arnhem Land and north of Darwin. Visible on the Australian mainland, in the lower right quadrant, are plumes of smoke from two wildfires, blowing towards the west-northwest.

Mexico - May 11th, 2012

Plumes of smoke from multiple fires by the Sierra Madre Occidental, parallel to the west coast of Mexico, can be observed in this image. Also parallel to the shoreline is a trail of bright green sediments in the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). Upon opening the full image, more smoke can be seen further east: smoke released from fires between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Yucatán Peninsula creates a hazy cloud over the Gulf of Mexico.

Italy, Switzerland, France - May 11th, 2012

The Alps, covered in snow, arch across the upper part of this image, marking the border between Italy (right) and Switzerland (above, left) and France (below, left). A plume of smoke from a fire near Lake Geneva blows southward and then curves to the west, trailing out over the Mediterranean Sea.

Persian Gulf - May 11th, 2012

Dust spreads over Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (clockwise from upper left). A thin veil of dust can be observed over the Persian Gulf, through which sediments from the Shatt al-Arab are partially visible. However, the dust is densest to the west, as it spreads over Syria and Jordan and towards Israel/Palestine and Lebanon. Some dust can even be spreading over the Mediterranean Sea (upper left quadrant), by the border with Turkey, and northwards over the Caspian Sea (upper right quadrant).

Bahamas - May 8th, 2012

The waters around the islands of the Bahamas appear bright turquoise that suddenly changes to dark blue due to the Bahama Banks. The Bahama Banks are submerged carbonate platforms that make up much of the Bahama Archipelago. Since the platforms suddenly drop off to great depths, the water above them is shallow and appears lighter in color before suddenly changing to dark blue.

Also visible in the full image are the island-nation of Cuba (below) and the Florida Peninsula, belonging to the USA (above). Both areas are covered by dotted white popcorn clouds, probably due to an increase in photosynthetic activity in the vegetation in the region.

Mexico - May 8th, 2012

Smoke from fires in Mexico, between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Yucatán Peninsula, release a veil of smoke that blows northwestwards,  over the Gulf of Mexico and towards central Mexico. Fewer individual blazes are visible than the last time the area was observed (click here for previous image); however, the veil of smoke has a greater extension.

Hungary - May 8th, 2012

Visible in the lower half of this image is the light greenish-blue Lake Balaton, a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and the canalized Sió is the only outflow. The region by the northern shores is mountainous, while the land by the southern shores is flat.

Visible to its northwest is the tan Lake Neusiedl, the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers 315 km², of which 240 km² is on the Austrian side and 75 km² on the Hungarian side. The lake’s drainage basin has an area of about 1,120 km². From north to south, the lake is about 36 km long, and it is between 6 km and 12 km wide from east to west.

Iran - May 8th, 2012

Lake Urmia is a salt lake in northwestern Iran, near Iran’s border with Turkey. It is the largest lake in the Middle East, and the third largest salt water lake on earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km² (2,000 mile²), 140 km (87 mi) length, 55 km (34 mi) width, and 16 m (52 ft) depth.

Due to drought and increased demands for agricultural water in the lake’s basin, the salinity of the lake has risen to more than 300 g/L during recent years, and large areas of the lake bed have been desiccated.

The lake often appears white (click here for previous images) when water levels are low, due to its high salt content. In this image, however, the water level appears higher, and the lake is thus green and brown in color, with some salt flats visible around the northern shoreline. The lake is divided into north and south parts separated by a causeway in which a 1500m gap provides little exchange of water between the two parts. As such, the northern section of the lake appears green, while the southern portion is more brown, probably from an influx of sediments.

Kazakhstan - May 8th, 2012

The western end of Lake Balkhash appears milky blue from sediments suspended in its waters. The lake is divided by a strait into two distinct parts. The western part is fresh water, while the eastern half is saline, and the eastern part is on average 1.7 times deeper than the western part. Lake Balkhash is one of the largest lakes in Asia, located in southeastern Kazakhstan. It belongs to an endorheic (closed) basin shared by Kazakhstan and China, with a small part in Kyrgyzstan.

The basin drains into the lake via seven rivers. The major one is the Ili River, which brings the majority of the riparian inflow and is visible here on the right side of the image. The Ili is fed from precipitation (largely vernal snowmelt) from the mountains of China’s Xinjiang region. The lake currently covers 16400 km2, but, like the Aral Sea, it is shrinking because of the diversion of water from the rivers that feed it.

Brazil - May 8th, 2012

Close-up

Smoke from a fire in the Pantanal, by the Brazil-Bolivia-Paraguay border, can be observed by the center of the main image. The close-up shows the same fire at a slightly different time. In the former, the smoke has a V-shape due to changes in the direction of air currents, while in the latter the plume is blowing towards the northwest and a cloud of smoke can be observed in the lower left corner.

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland. It is one of the world’s largest wetlands of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) and 195,000 square kilometres (75,000 sq mi).