#dardanelle

Similar to the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara possesses a unique layered structure with denser, saltier water at its bottom and fresher water at the surface. With rivers and waterways that contribute organic-rich runoff from the continental interior and the surrounding cities and villages, the top freshwater layer is a natural breeding ground for microscopic algae, also known as phytoplankton. This image, captured by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite in May of this year, shows the swirling blooms of phytoplankton in the Sea of Marmara. The most concentrated swirls reveal the currents and eddies in the Sea of Marmara — a complicated mix of patterns compounded from the inflow and outflow of water from the Bosphorus and Dardenelle Straits, as well as interference from the rugged Turkish shores and the disjointed, tectonically active seafloor. -DC Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/tEW8fC More reading: http://bit.ly/1KTWeBK