Ocean Color Image Gallery

Agulhas Retroflection

South of Africa where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean, the southwestward flowing Agulhas Current meets the eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current and is retroflected back toward the east generating much turbulence in the process. This is made visible in the above image by phytoplankton carried along and growing at boundaries between different water masses.

The above image was collected by Suomi-NPP/VIIRS on October 2, 2020. Click on it to get a larger version that includes the southern end of the African continent.