Plants and Algae Swirl Across a South African Reservoir
On clear days in Hartbeespoort, South Africa, Landsat and Sentinel-2 images often reveal a reservoir with shades of deep blue interrupted by drifting patches of vivid green. Over the years, these shifting features have included algae blooms—which can affect water quality, ecosystems, and nearby human communities—along with several types of invasive aquatic plants.
A natural-color HLS time series showing vivid green blooms forming, drifting, and fading in Hartbeespoort Dam over the course of a year.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Visualizer
- Ross K. Walter (SSAI)
Missions
This page is related to the following missions:Datasets used
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[Landsat]
ID: 47
Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 4:17 PM EDT.