Somewhere beyond the sea... These abstract swirls weren’t created by an artist—they’re the sand and seaweed of the Bahamas. This image, taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) instrument aboard the Landsat 7 satellite, shows the sand and seaweed beds formed into these multicolored, fluted patterns by tides and ocean currents in much the same way that winds sculpted the vast sand dunes in the Sahara Desert. Landsat 7 was successfully launched in 1999 and its primary science mission ended in 2022. It carried the ETM+, a versatile and efficient instrument for global change studies, land cover monitoring and assessment, and large area mapping. Image description: An aerial view of ocean sand in the Bahamas, which has been shaped into wavy patterns by ocean currents. The water is several shades of green and blue, going from a bright blue at the top of the image to turquoise at the bottom. Credit: University of South Florida/Serge Andrefouet #NASA #oceans #sand #satellite #Earth #EarthScience