Photo: NASA & NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory
It looks like an abstract painting or layers of oil, but that's the Gulf Stream, the swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, follows the eastern coastlines of the United States, then crosses the Atlantic Ocean towards Europe and then dipping down to the east coast of Africa.
The image above is infrared photo by NASA's Suomi NPP Satellite:
The infra-red image, covering an area about 180 miles east of Atlantic City, New Jersey, shows the warmest waters in dark orange. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the temperature of these waters is an astounding 86 degrees F. Lighter colors indicate cooler waters, as low as 50 degrees. And the black areas in the image are clouds.
Tom Yulsman of Discover Magazine's ImaGeo blog has the post: Link