Norman Kuring

We are headed down a dark path.

Lots of butterflies on our Joe Pye weed. Mostly Tiger swallowtails but also a lone Monarch! 🦋
#nativeplants #monarchbutterfly #tigerswallowtail #joepyeweed

Eddies and ribbons of cyanobacteria blooms paint the otherwise blue waters of the southwestern Baltic Sea. The land on the left (west) is Denmark; along the top right lies Sweden; the peninsula protruding into the bottom center belongs to Germany. This scene was collected by Landsat 8 on August 18, 2025 at 10:08 UTC.

Summertime #cyanobacteria blooms persist in the southwestern #BalticSea, highlighting eddies and other flow lines in the region. Ship wakes cut through the surface slicks. Clusters of white dots are offshore wind farms.

#Landsat8

Larger image available here: photos.app.goo.gl/DN9j9qQHtd9s...

Landsat 8 image of Scoresby Sound in Greenland collected on July 6, 2025 at 13:39 UTC. White icecaps rest atop rugged red, green, and buff mountains while striated off-white glaciers flow towards the blue and cyan fjords of the sound. White icebergs speckle the blue water's surface. Brownish suspended sediments emerge from the coastline at a couple of the valley mouths.

After sweltering in the Washington DC suburban heat and humidity this morning, I felt like looking at something cooler for a bit.

#Landsat8
#Greenland

The full Landsat 8 scene is here:
photos.app.goo.gl/gWwxFH49WruT...

A late instar nymph of Lycorma delicatula sits atop a young Echinacea purpurea flower. The nymph has black legs with white spots and a red and black carapace with white spots. The flower is green and yellow with hints of red.

A late instar nymph of Lycorma delicatula sits atop a young Echinacea purpurea flower. The nymph has black legs with white spots and a red and black carapace with white spots. The flower is green and yellow with hints of red.

A late instar nymph of Lycorma delicatula sits atop a young Echinacea purpurea flower. The nymph has black legs with white spots and a red and black carapace with white spots. The flower is green and yellow with hints of red.

This striking red invader of our garden was nearing adulthood until it met the bottom of my shoe.

#LycormaDelicatula
#EchinaceaPurpurea

A view of Earth composed of 9 orbits' worth of PACE/OCI data collected on May 31, 2025. The tans and greens of North America fill the upper left portion of the pictured globe. Northern South America is at the bottom. The tan Sahara occupies the right edge separated from greenish Europe in the upper right by the blue Mediterranean Sea. Bluish-white Greenland lies near the top of the globe. Tan-colored smoke from Canadian wildfires has drifted north, south, and eastward across the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time tan-colored dust has drifted westward across the Atlantic farther south (near the bottom of the image). Turquoise and green swirls of phytoplankton blooms can be seen around Iceland and in the North and Black Seas. The thinning ice of Canada's Northwest Passage stands out as a light blue band in the upper left. White clouds form myriad patterns over ice, land, and water.

At the end of May, Canadian wildfire smoke drifted eastward across the North Atlantic while Saharan dust drifted westward across the tropical Atlantic. Meanwhile, phytoplankton bloomed in the waters below.

A 100-megapixel version of this image is here:
photos.app.goo.gl/F8RHdMoKLzX6...

#PACE_OCI

Thirty-four years ago
🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

Colorful photos of plants and animals in and near Bowie, Maryland arranged in such a way as to spell out "MARYLAND NATIVE" against a black background. The following species are represented. Anaxyrus americanus Aquilegia canadensis Aronia melanocarpa Baptisia australis Camponotus chromaiodes Chelone glabra Chelone obliqua Chlosyne nycteis Diogmites neoternatus Epargyreus clareus Eurybia divaricata Impatiens capensis Juglans nigra Kalmia latifolia Lindera benzoin Lobelia siphilitica Lonicera sempervirens Misumessus oblongus Nerodia sipedon Pisaurina mira Poecile carolinensis Quercus alba Salvia lyrata Scolia dubia Sisyrinchium angustifolium Sphex nudus Spigelia marylandica Symphotrichum laeve Terrapene carolina Zelus luridus

The American lawn: initially appealing in its uniformity, but ultimately boring, never mind being harmful to the environment. Native flora bring visual interest plus the rest of a fascinating ecosystem on their coattails.

homegrownnationalpark.org/doug-tallamy/

photos.app.goo.gl/wVZpPmw7C7rB...

Clockwise from top: Bleeding heart Fleabane Golden Alexander Wild geranium Golden ragwort Green and Gold Center: Moss phlox

These are some of the flowers that were blooming in our yard on #EarthDay2025 .

An oblique view of mostly cloud-free western Europe shows phytoplankton blooms in the waters around the British Isles. Land surfaces are various shades of green and brown with some white snow-covered mountains. Atlantic Ocean and North and Baltic Sea waters have mostly, blue, green, and aquamarine hues. Surrounding clouds are white. The source data for the image were collected during four orbits of the Aqua / MODIS instrument on April 7, 2025.

The British Isles are seldom so cloud free, so I thought this recent #AquaMODIS view worth sharing, especially since the spring phytoplankton bloom had painted the ocean so nicely.

John of Gaunt never got to see "This earth of majesty" from such a perspective.

drive.google.com/file/d/18wpX...

Opening Fagus grandifolia bud: The brown sheath has split revealing fuzzy light green buds inside.

Walking through the woods
Fagus grandifolia
Opens in softness

Brown, tan, and green hues streak Lake Pontchartrain north of grayish New Orleans. The brown Mississippi River meanders through the bottom left quadrant of the scene. The connection to the Gulf of Mexico appears at the right side of the image. Lake Maurepas looks orangish-brown just to the left (west) of Lake Pontchartrain. Landsat 8 scene collected at 16:31 UTC on 22 March 2025

#LakePontchartrain, an estuary of the #GulfOfMexico, lies just north of #NewOrleans. It gains its color -- exaggerated here -- from suspended sediments, colored dissolved organic matter, phytoplankton, and various effluvia of human activity.

#Landsat8

Larger image:
drive.google.com/file/d/1hZw8...

Man near the Washington Monument wearing blue jeans and a blue Patagonia raincoat holds a protest sign with an image of Greenland.

There were very few duplicate signs at the "Hands off!" protest today. Most were homemade and expressed the bearer's personal issues -- sometimes rather humorously, sometimes rather NSFW -- with the current administration.

P.S. This was not one of the funny ones.

The data for this image of the North Pacific Ocean were collected over several orbits of the PACE/OCI instrument on February 26 (eastern half) and 27 (western half), 2025. The characteristic comma shapes of three extratropical cyclones are visible in the northern half of this image. The predominant colors in the image are blue (the ocean) and white (the clouds and ice).

The ocean partially visible here covers about a third of Earth's surface and it bears the name Pacific but it can often be less than peaceful as the pictured extratropical cyclones in the north suggest.
(The commas missing above are in the image.)

photos.app.goo.gl/VQZuoXbVsuHz...

#PACE_OCI

Landsat 8 montage of the coastal region near the mouth of China's Yellow River. The data making up the image were collected on February 24, 2025 at 2:42 UTC. Geometric shapes (mostly rectangles) tessellate the five panels of this image. Most of the shapes are green, blue, tan, or brown. Many are aquaculture ponds.

In and around China's Yellow River delta the land is carved up into rectangles.

Lots of them.

Really, I wouldn't want to count them all.

There are other shapes too, but it's mostly rectangles.

There are still more on display in this much larger image.
drive.google.com/file/d/1iCp1...

#Landsat8

Apple pie π

Happy π Day!

Surface slicks of green phytoplankton (most likely Noctiluca scintillans) trace out the spiral arms of a cyclonic eddy in the Gulf of Oman to the northeast of Muscat. Ships and their wakes can be seen cutting through the surface slicks. The data for this image were collected by Landsat 8/OLI on March 8, 2025 at 06:28 UTC

This cyclonic eddy in the Gulf of Oman aligns the phytoplankton near its surface making its otherwise invisible streamlines visible.

#Landsat8
Larger image: photos.app.goo.gl/zNB67GJgqQyP...

To President Zelensky, From an Embarrassed American Dear President Zelensky,

Dear President Zelensky,

As it is likely that our paths will never cross in person, I could not let this day go by without trying to reach you here.

I come to you humbly as an American citizen who is thoroughly and completely embarrassed of our leaders.

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/to-preside...

a butterfly is sitting on top of a sunflower on a blue and yellow background ALT: a butterfly is sitting on top of a sunflower on a blue and yellow background

I stand with Ukraine. President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people should have the United States support instead of the embarrassing treatment given by the White House.

Green tendrils fill the blue water of the northern Arabian Sea. Tan deserts of the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa appear on the left (west) while the tans and greens of India and Pakistan appear on the right (east). The green tendrils in the water likely indicate the presence of the mixotrophic dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans. White clouds stretch across the top and bottom of the image. This image comprises data collected by PACE/OCI on February 17, 2025.

Tiny balloons
Surf-jostled scintillators
Predators & producers
Mixotrophs keeping live green prey
Phytoplankton factories fixing CO2

Balloons burgeon
Green spans 1000km of Arabian Sea
Altered climate
New pattern
Noctiluca scintillans

www.nature.com/articles/nco...
photos.app.goo.gl/YaCpcWVe4Jfy...

Could someone place an order for 100 more Jasmine Crocketts for overnight delivery to the Democratic Party

thx in advance

The tans, browns, and greens of southern Africa divide the green and turquoise waters of the Benguela current system along the Atlantic coast from the more pure blue waters of the Agulhas Current along the Indian-Ocean coast. Data for this image were collected by PACE/OCI on January 18, 2025.

Southern Africa:
One flank green, the other blue
Physics drives color.

Ekman flow away from west coast = nutrient upwelling = many phytoplankton
Warm water from tropics along east coast = few phytoplankton
Rabbit hole: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Full size: photos.app.goo.gl/XLf3HMZDu27W...

I see people excited about DOGE. I don't disagree that there is waste in government spending. Congress sets the spending (Civics 101) and EVERYONE has a pet project in their home state.

Giving a South African Billionaire access to the government checkbook is illegal.

Congress needs to step up.

Green and turquoise swirls of phytoplankton decorate the blue water of the Ross Sea. White spots are icebergs entrained in the local current field. Image captured by Landsat 9 on January 18, 2025 (UTC)

Summer brings intense #phytoplankton productivity to the #RossSea. These #CO2 eaters & #krill feeders highlight the swirls and ribbons of the local current field as do the #icebergs.

Full #Landsat image:
photos.app.goo.gl/GcP6B7AgRC3k... (graticule)
photos.app.goo.gl/m67qABMMjbT3... (no graticule)

Andrew and Margarete Kuring

Andrew Kuring (left) and his family

Born to immigrant parents on the Keweenaw Peninsula in 1909, my dad would have turned 116 today. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Of course, the uncontacted tribes probably know the stars and planets much better than most Americans -- even allowing for the fact that American skies are much less often blocked by tree canopy.

The counterclockwise spiral of a low-pressure system covers the northeastern United States, but the entire southern border and much of Mexico is cloudfree exposing blue and green offshore waters. PACE/OCI imagery collected on November 21, 2024

Despite all of its problems, Planet Earth is still a beautiful place to live. It's also the place we cannot live without.

#PACE_OCI
Larger version: photos.app.goo.gl/Ck4em1SyRvhe...

PACE/OCI image showing phytoplankton blooming to the east of Argentina on November 30, 2024. Many shades of green, cyan, and blue in ribbons and swirls indicate different algal communities.

During my #NASA years, the #SouthAtlantic off #Patagonia always burst with color in the spring. Now, new sensors witness this #phytoplankton diversity. This #PACE_OCI image seems a good candidate for exploring that sensor's #hyperspectral chops.

Larger image: photos.app.goo.gl/9mkYn5QNCBGz...

Clockwise from upper left: Strymon melinus Eremnophila aureonotata Euchaetes egle Diogmites neoternatus Misumessus oblongus Morrisonia confusa

This year I'm thankful for all the ecosystem citizens visiting our yard.

www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...