A river of black waters meets the sea
A river of black waters meets the sea
In a dense swamp in Georgia, just north of the Florida border, are the headwaters of the Suwannee River. The Suwannee is known as a "blackwater river" due to its dark brown waters laden with organic material. This river system has been called one of the most pristine in the United States, but some environmental pressures endanger that distinction.
Unlike other blackwater rivers, Suwannee maintains its ink color throughout its 400-kilometer (250-mile) journey to the sea. When the river finally meets the Gulf of Mexico along the Great Curve of Florida, that part of the coast where the curves of the state to find its peninsula, its dark waters act as a tracer, revealing that the water of the river mixes with the sea. That mix was on display on February 20, 2015, when the Operational Earth Imager in Landsat 8 Captured this view. Certain colors in the visible light image have been enhanced to highlight details in the Gulf of Mexico.
To understand the color of the Suwannee River, you must start from its source. In Georgia boggy Okefenokee SwampThe peat deposits are so extensive that the ground trembles with each step.
It is in this swamp that the nascent Suwannee River encounters large amounts of decaying vegetation for the first time. As these leaves, branches and bark disintegrate, the tannins that once protected the vegetation dissolve into a substance that dyes the river of a brown color so dark that borders the black. The amount of dissolved dark organic matter, or humic substances, in the Suwannee River is almost ten times higher than other currents around the world.
The Okefenokee is full of life, and more than 350,000 acres are protected as a National Wildlife Refuge. The Okefenokee is home to rare birds, a wide variety of amphibians, mammals and reptiles such as the American alligator. It is also home to more than 600 plant species, including three types of carnivorous plants: Fly Catcher, Bladderwort and Sun Dew.
The Suwannee River that emerges from that swamp is also distinctive ecological. It is the second largest river system in Florida and the largest river sewage system in the region. The crocodile crocodile turtle of Suwannee has its home here, the only place on Earth where the species is found. Investigation published in 2014 established that turtles have been a unique species for five million years or more.
The Suwannee River branches as it approaches the Gulf of Mexico, creating a deltaic estuary full of plains, marshes and small tidal creeks that become the sound of Suwannee. The sound is partially damped from the sea by a network of sandbanks and oyster reefs. Seagrass is hard to find in sound because the dark waters of Suwanee do not let sunlight penetrate the seabed.
That dark river contributes 60 percent of the fresh water to the Gulf, near the Big Bend region. These days, it is also leading some problems. As upstream urbanization increases and farmers resort to more intensive fertilization practices, the accompanying nutrient loads contribute to lower water quality. At the same time, water withdrawals from rivers for irrigation and municipal use are also putting water quality at risk.
A research group at North Carolina State University is studying how changes in land use and human activity in the Suwannee River basin are affecting water quality, discharge amounts and health of the estuary. The laboratory has been using Landsat data to analyze the comments between the growth of the oyster reef and the amount of fresh water in Suwannee Sound.
The previous image was incorporated into the image contest Envisioning Science of NC State by Alice Alonso, former scientific researcher at the university. Biosystems analysis laboratory and now a researcher at the Catholic University of Leuven. As she described, the image "captures a great event of unloading a river, which resulted in a fascinating dark plume of river that contrasts with the deep blue color of the Gulf of Mexico." It is, in effect, a testament to the Suwannee's contribution of fresh water. River to the sea and an echo of the unique swamp ecosystem.
Image of the Earth Observatory of NASA by Dr. Alice Alonso, using Landsat data from the United States Geological Survey. Story by Laura Rocchio, NASA Landsat Science Outreach.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario