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The following images were acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the NASA spacecraft Aqua and Terra over the northeastern part of the South China Sea from 2001 to 2008. The data have been geographically corrected and cover an area between 18 and 23N latitude and 115 and 122E longitude.
In this region internal waves (visible as curvilinear lines oriented NNE to SSW) propagate west out of the Luzon Strait across the basin refract around the Dongsha coral reef (green circle at middle left) and dissipate on the continental shelf.
The MODIS data have been processed into "True-Color" imagery with each image pixel represents 250m on the surface of the earth. The silvery gray pattern on the images are regions of "sunglint" where the ocean surface is acting like a mirror reflecting the incident sunlight. Internal waves are visible in the sunglint areas because the waves alter the surface roughness of the water. Clouds are visible in many of the images.
