An astronauts on the International Space Station snapped a picture of a "sunglint" that transformed the sea's surface into a mirror. The color-changing phenomenon, caused by the sun's light reflecting off the still sea directly into the astronauts camera, highlights interesting oceanographic effects on and below the water's surface.
The image was captured by a member of the crew of the International Space Station. Milos is a 58 square-mile Greek volcanic island and Antimilos is a 3 square mile uninhabited island. The Sea of Crete and the Myrtoan Sea are part of the larger Mediterranean Sea. The image was made public by NASA.
Sun reflecting off calm seas and other flat bodies of water can be seen by observers in space. It is similar to how the light reflects off a still sea during a sunrise or sunset when viewed from Earth, which causes a shiny streak across the surface, but from space, the streak looks like a massive silvery patch.
The wavy lines and swirls in the image, which cut across the sea's silver surface like scratches on a mirror, are caused by wind-driven surface currents and deeper sea currents below the surface. The features scatter some of the sun's light and become obvious during a sunglint.
There are amazing images of Earth from space.
One of the most striking oceanographic features is a gyre located to the east of Milos, which looks like an enormous whirlpool from above. Rather than pulling stuff down like a whirlpool, these patches of swirling water play an important role in sustaining nearby currents.
The long, straight line in the bottom left of the picture is most likely the wake from a ship that was moving at speed across the surface.
There is a set of parallel lines off the northeast coast of Antimilos. These lines are called internal waves because they are massive vertical waves that pass through the water beneath the surface. Unlike surface waves, which are mainly driven by ocean currents, internal waves are the result of gravity waves.
Earth's tides cause the equilibrium between the two fluids to be disrupted by the waves of gravity. The seas are made up of layers of water with different densities because of temperature and salinity. The Conversation states that internal waves within the ocean can be created by gravity waves.
Waves pass through the water without being seen. The hidden waves beneath the surface can be seen with the help of sunglints. The atmospheric gravity waves that sometimes form where the atmosphere and ocean surface meet can be seen in other sunglint images. Scientists use sunglints to study gravity waves above and below the surface
Oil slicks on the surface of the ocean reflect less light than water and researchers use images of sunglints to track them.
For other marine scientists who rely on satellite images to monitor the ocean, sunglints can be a problem. Scientists often have to modify their satellite images to remove sunglints.
It was originally published on Live Science
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