Swirling sediment in the Caspian Sea Today’s Image of the Day comes from the NASA Earth Observatory and features a look at colorful sediment in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Turkmenistan.

The stunning effect is an annual occurrence, as strong surface winds mix the water and stir up sediments that create the milky glow effect.

This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra satellite. Swirling sediment in the Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia, south of the fertile plains of Southern Russia in Eastern Europe, and north of the mountainous Iranian Plateau of Western Asia.

It covers 371,000 km (143,000 sq mi) (excluding the highly saline lagoon of Garabogazköl) and a volume of 78,200 km (19,000 cu mi). It has a salinity of approximately 1.2% (12 g/l), about a third that of average seawater. It is bounded by Kazakhstan from mid-north to mid-east, Russia from mid-north to mid-west, Azerbaijan to the southwest, Iran to the south and adjacent corners. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia, south of the fertile plains of Southern Russia in Eastern Europe, and north of the mountainous Iranian Plateau 

—

By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory