Fires in Cuba and Florida

Small fires in Cuba and Florida and the southern tip of (US) while white clouds are scattered throughout the region’s skies. Therefore fires, marked in red, show smoke plumes at the higher resolutions of the image. (500- and 250-meters per pixel) but are still relatively small and are likely to be a mixture of prescribed and wild fires.
The waters in this image are draped in the jewel-like colors of the Bahamas. Also turquoise, bright blue, and emerald green, and in the deeper blue-black of the Gulf of Mexico (left) and the Atlantic Ocean (right).

The brighter colors surrounding the Bahamas are caused by the relatively shallow waters over the Little and Great Bahama Banks. Also which are shelves of land that were submerged as the continental glaciers of the last ice age melted.

The jewel-like waters around Cuba and Florida’s tip could be a consequence of shallow waters. Although could also be colored by a larger presence of microscopic marine organisms. Therefore such as algae and phytoplankton, which lend a darker-green tinge to the water. Therefore Fires in Cuba and Florida are very common in the area and during storm season.

Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC