Norman Kuring

If anyone wonders, I'm off to try my hand at posting under bluer skies. The Twitterverse has moved in a direction that I'd rather not go.

@MatthiasErdmann Best of luck on your album. Music & ocean color seem to go together. I'm retired now, but many of my former colleagues in NASA's Ocean Ecology Lab were also musically gifted. At our holiday parties guitars, keyboards, a double bass, some percussion & 1 operatic singer would play.

#Landsat9 flew overhead when a strong, katabatic wind blew out of the #Chugach Mountains on Oct. 18, 2024. Dust from the #CopperRiver valley was carried 230 km offshore before ducking under #GulfOfAlaska clouds. A full-sized version of this image is here: drive.google.com/file/d/1uzx11C…

@C_Birznieks I read Lisey's Story this year and enjoyed it. Stephen King at one time referred to it as the favorite of his novels. Some scary bits, but also lots of familial interplay -- both good and bad.

Five orbits and thirty bands of OCI data from NASA's PACE mission captured this view of western North America & the Pacific Ocean on September 30th, 2024. The #phytoplankton are partying in the early fall sunshine. A larger version of the image is here: photos.app.goo.gl/kSMEFyZutuJdbu…

One might think that it's hard to draw on water, but the ship wakes around #BlockIsland in the #northwestAtlantic belie that notion. They remain visible to #Landsat8 after a surprisingly long time. This scene was imaged on 3 July 2024. Larger version here: drive.google.com/file/d/162x8sm…

@C_Birznieks *boasts*

@C_Birznieks I haven't been there yet, but Baltimore boats this one if you like the next time you are in town. 360cities.net/image/george-p…

It was bound to happen sooner or later. We are growing native plants to attract insects to our yard, but we did not want this little invader that got trapped in our birdbath. 😟 #SpottedLaternfly #LycormaDelicatula mda.maryland.gov/plants-pests/P…

@C_Birznieks @StraussLibrary Happened to me too at the Goddard Library.

Greetings to #OSM24 attendees gathered by the levees of the #MississippiRiver. The sediments, aerosols, CDOM, phytoplankton, & human infrastructure that many of you study all affected photons intercepted by #Landsat8 on January 31, 2024. Full scene here: drive.google.com/file/d/1qCYhrU…

@C_Birznieks You contributed your liver.

#Aquaculture, wind turbines, shipping, #phytoplankton, suspended sediment, colored dissolved organic matter, sea ice, turbulence: lots going on in the waters of #KoreaBay around the islands of China's Changhai County. The full-resolution #Landsat9 scene: drive.google.com/file/d/1yh6YEz…

#SuspendedSediment from the #RhoneRiver disperses in the #MediterraneanSea. #Landsat8 A full-resolution version is available here: drive.google.com/file/d/11KeUpt…

@C_Birznieks If you like a good sailing adventure, The Voyage of the Aegre by Nicholas Grainger. I'm happy to lend you my copy.

@C_Birznieks Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora is a troubling allegory for spaceship Earth, but it has a hopeful ending on a lovely beach. Toni Morrison's Beloved. I'm just a third of the way through, but I'm enchanted by both the story and the language she uses to convey it.

The #fractal beauty of #MusaBay at the north end of the #PersianGulf A broader view of the region is available here: drive.google.com/file/d/1Ytos_M…

@NASAClimate @NASA I've been diving for the past several days in the #BVI and can report that, while many of the hard corals are bleached at the sites we've visited, most are totally dead. The soft corals are doing better, and there are still plenty of fish, but it's a sad sight nonetheless.

Data from @NASA and other institutions has shown a global decline in coral reefs. What’s the cause? Check out what we know so far: climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-na…