Running vertically between Alaska on the right and Russia on the left, the Bering Strait is mostly free of ice in this true-color MODIS image acquired from data captured on May 31, 2001. To the lower right of the image, a phytoplankton bloom appears to be occurring at the mouth of Norton Sound, and is coloring the darker water a bright bluish green. At the bottom center of the image is snow-covered St. Lawrence Island.