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Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, 2025, as a category 5 storm, bringing sustained winds of\u00a0295 kilometers<\/a> (185 miles) per hour and leaving a broad path of destruction on the island. The storm displaced tens of thousands of people, damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 structures, inflicted costly damage on farmland, and left the nation\u2019s forests brown and battered<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prior to landfall, in the waters south of the island, the hurricane created a large-scale natural oceanography experiment. Before encountering land and proceeding north, the monster storm crawled over the Caribbean Sea, churning up the water below. A couple of days later, a break in the clouds revealed what researchers believe could be a once-in-a-century event.<\/p>\n On October 30, 2025, the\u00a0MODIS<\/a>\u00a0(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument on NASA\u2019s\u00a0Terra<\/a>\u00a0satellite acquired this image (right) of the waters south of Jamaica. Vast areas are colored bright blue by sediment stirred up from a carbonate platform<\/a> called Pedro Bank. This plateau, submerged under about 25 meters (80 feet) of water, is slightly larger in area than the state of Delaware. For comparison, the left image was acquired by the same sensor on September 20, before the storm.<\/p>\n Pedro Bank is deep enough that it is only faintly visible in natural color satellite images most of the time. However, with enough disruption from hurricanes or strong cold fronts, its existence becomes more evident to satellites. Suspended calcium carbonate (CaCO3<\/sub>) mud, consisting primarily of remnants of marine organisms that live on the plateau, turns the water a Maya blue<\/a> color. The appearance of this type of material contrasts with the greenish-brown color of sediment carried out to sea by swollen rivers on Jamaica\u2019s southern coast.<\/p>\n As an intense storm that lingered in the vicinity of the bank, Hurricane Melissa generated \u201ctremendous stirring power\u201d in the water column, said James Acker, a data support scientist at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center with a particular interest in these events. Hurricane Beryl<\/a> caused some brightening around Pedro Bank in July 2024, \u201cbut nothing like this,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile we always have to acknowledge the human cost of a disaster, this is an extraordinary geophysical image.\u201d<\/p>\n Sediment suspension was visible on Pedro and other nearby shallow banks, indicating that Melissa affected a total area of about 37,500 square kilometers\u2014more than three times the area of Jamaica\u2014on October 30, said sedimentologist\u00a0Jude Wilber<\/a>, who tracked the plume\u2019s progression using multiple satellite sensors. Having studied carbonate sediment transport for decades, he believes the Pedro Bank event was the largest observed in the satellite era. \u201cIt was extraordinary to see the sediment dispersed over such a large area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The sediment acted as a tracer, illuminating currents and eddies near the surface. Some extended into the flow field of the Caribbean Current<\/a> heading west and north, while other patterns suggested the influence of Ekman transport<\/a>, Wilber said. The scientists also noted complexities in the south-flowing plume, which divided into three parts after encountering several small reefs. Sinking sediment in the easternmost arm exhibited a cascading stair-step pattern<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like in other resuspension events, the temporary coloration of the water faded after about seven days as sediment settled. But changes to Pedro Bank itself may be more long-lasting. \u201cI suspect this hurricane was so strong that it produced what I would call a \u2018wipe\u2019 of the\u00a0benthic\u00a0ecosystem<\/a>,\u201d Wilber said. Seagrasses, algae, and other organisms living on and around the bank were likely decimated, and it is unknown how repopulation of the area will unfold.<\/p>\n Perhaps most consequentially for Earth\u2019s oceans, however, is the effect of the sediment suspension event on the planet\u2019s carbon cycle<\/a>. Tropical cyclones are an important way for carbon in shallow-water marine sediments to reach deeper waters, where it can remain sequestered for the long term. At depth, carbonate sediments will also dissolve, another important process in the oceanic carbon system.<\/p>\n Near-continuous ocean observations by satellites have enabled greater understanding<\/a> of these events and their carbon cycling. Acker and Wilber have worked on remote-sensing methods to quantify how much sediment reaches the deep ocean following the turbulence of tropical cyclones, including recently with Hurricane Ian<\/a> over the West Florida Shelf. Now, hyperspectral observations from NASA\u2019s PACE<\/a> (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission,\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0in February 2024, are poised to build on that progress, Acker said.<\/p>\n The phenomenon at Pedro Bank following Hurricane Melissa provided a singular opportunity to study this and other complex ocean processes\u2014a large natural experiment that could not be accomplished any other way. Researchers will be further investigating a range of physical, geochemical, and biological aspects illuminated by this occurrence. As Wilber put it: \u201cThis event is a whole course in oceanography.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0EOSDIS LANCE<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0GIBS\/Worldview<\/a>, and ocean bathymetry data from the British Oceanographic Data Center\u2019s General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO<\/a>). Photo by Jude Wilber.\u00a0Story by\u00a0Lindsey Doermann.<\/em><\/p>\n\n