Why is water around islands so blue?

Extremely shallow areas still have some of the green wavelengths of light. This creates the green-blue hues that we see in areas around islands and reefs, such as those in the Caribbean Sea. Of course, as we go deeper and deeper, eventually there's no sunlight at all.



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The Weddell Sea has been claimed by scientists to have the clearest waters of any ocean in the world. Described by a historian as “the most wretched and dismal region on earth”, due to the flash freezes that caught Shackleton's ship, its clarity is only belied by the sheer depth of the ocean below.

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“So the reason why these beaches are usually dirty is mainly because of their limited water circulation, which leads to prolonged pollution near the shore,” Wu said. “This means the circulation is not enough to flush away all pollution when it happens.

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It's about what's in the water Along certain coasts, finer particles like sand and silt can add to the water's murkiness since they're easily agitated and stay afloat for long periods. On the other hand, the sediments off clearer coasts may be heavier and coarser.

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Because the tropics have warm surface water, even in the winter, the thermocline never goes away, and the nutrients stay trapped down below in the depths. So even with ample sunlight, phytoplankton growth is severly limited. In the tropics, predators like coral make good use of what little plankton there is.

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1. The Maldives. The Maldives, located in the Indian Ocean, have around 1,190 islands and sandbanks. A lagoon with crystal clear water encircles all the islands, which are protected by a reef structure that is home to an array of underwater life.

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The water is clear due to the absence of plankton and suspended particles. Plankton is the base of the food web in all oceans and, because there is little plankton in the tropics, tropical ocean water is nearly sterile in comparison with the fertile waters of the temperate oceans.

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The azures, aquas, and turquoises of the shallower depths are what really contribute to the unique Turks and Caicos water and are caused by light reflecting off the white sandy bottoms and off of fine white sand particles that are suspended in the ocean.

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And that includes Schoolhouse Beach on Washington Island, Wisconsin, which ranked No. 1 for clearest water in the U.S.

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The Ocean Beach black sand is unlike the variety found on Hawaiian beaches as volcanic sand is not metallic. Ken Finn, the Exploratorium's science educator, explains that the Ocean Beach sand comes from the Sierra Nevada where igneous rocks are being worn down through erosion.

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Blue Lake, New Zealand Blue Lake has underwater visibility up to 70 to 80 meters or 230 to 260 feet down, which is insane! Apart from being the world's clearest lake, it's also the clearest body of natural freshwater. The water in Blue Lake is comparable to distilled water based on laboratory measurements.

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Blue Lagoon, Portland, Jamaica The water's color can range in shade from turquoise to royal blue depending on the time of day and the lake is fed by a mix of underground freshwater springs and saltwater from the Caribbean Sea.

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1. Blue Hole – Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Approximately a two-hour drive from Albuquerque, the sapphire cenote is located in eastern New Mexico in the middle of a desert oasis.

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