Sand Displacement and Water Quality
The intense storm kicked up sediment and sand along the coastlines of locations in and along its path. An instrument on the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP Satellite captured before-and-after images of these impacts from Hurricane Irma.
The VIIRS instrument combines the red, green, and blue (or RGB) wavelengths of light and can create a true-color image that looks like a photograph. The two images were taken about a week apart, on September 22 and October 1. The light blue color shows the sand and sediment suspended in the water after Ian passed over the region.
The darker (brown) colored water swirling closer to the shore is likely due to sediment from inland portions of the state making its way into the river system due to the heavy rain. Some of the colorations could be caused by decaying vegetation or pollution caused by the impacts of the storm.
You can learn more about the mission of this satellite and its onboard instruments provided by NASA.
Source: NASA | Earth Observatory
Source: NASA | Earth Observatory