Norman Kuring
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normankuring.bsky.social
Norman Kuring
@normankuring.bsky.social
45 followers 39 following 130 posts
I'm a happy nature lover who's at the same time sad to see how poorly we are treating the only home that we humans share with our fellow blue-planet life forms.
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normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
August 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
July 8, 2025 at 8:36 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
This striking red invader of our garden was nearing adulthood until it met the bottom of my shoe.

#LycormaDelicatula
#EchinaceaPurpurea
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.
June 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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
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.
June 16, 2025 at 7:35 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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
May 21, 2025 at 7:02 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
These are some of the flowers that were blooming in our yard on #EarthDay2025 .
Clockwise from top: Bleeding heart Fleabane Golden Alexander Wild geranium Golden ragwort Green and Gold Center: Moss phlox
April 25, 2025 at 10:29 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
April 18, 2025 at 10:30 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
Walking through the woods
Fagus grandifolia
Opens in softness
Opening Fagus grandifolia bud: The brown sheath has split revealing fuzzy light green buds inside.
April 11, 2025 at 9:48 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
#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...
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
April 7, 2025 at 6:20 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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.
Man near the Washington Monument wearing blue jeans and a blue Patagonia raincoat holds a protest sign with an image of Greenland.
April 5, 2025 at 10:59 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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
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).
March 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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
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.
March 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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
March 13, 2025 at 7:25 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
February 19, 2025 at 5:08 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
February 13, 2025 at 8:47 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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)
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)
February 1, 2025 at 9:10 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
Born to immigrant parents on the Keweenaw Peninsula in 1909, my dad would have turned 116 today. Happy Birthday, Dad.
Andrew and Margarete Kuring Andrew Kuring (left) and his family
January 22, 2025 at 6:32 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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
December 6, 2024 at 11:02 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
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.
December 4, 2024 at 9:16 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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...
Clockwise from upper left: Strymon melinus Eremnophila aureonotata Euchaetes egle Diogmites neoternatus Misumessus oblongus Morrisonia confusa
November 27, 2024 at 10:39 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
A lot of ship traffic passes through the #GulfOfSuez at the north end of the #RedSea. I wonder if any of the bright linear features shown here relate to that traffic.

The full (30-meter) #Landsat scene is here:
photos.app.goo.gl/WUQTRwmJ2rKF...
Northern Gulf of Suez Landsat 9 2024-11-22 08:18 UTC Central Gulf of Suez Landsat 9 2024-11-22 08:18 UTC
November 22, 2024 at 9:52 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
#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:
November 16, 2024 at 9:55 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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:
November 16, 2024 at 9:55 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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:
November 16, 2024 at 9:55 PM
normankuring.bsky.social
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
November 16, 2024 at 9:55 PM