Unusually clear skies and persistent, unseasonable heat may have set the stage for large and persistent blooms of phytoplankton in the waters around England.
Published Jun 26, 2020
The brilliant shades of blue and green that fill the waters near the Norwegian shore in this photo-like image are likely phytoplankton.
Published Aug 6, 2009
The ocean has fronts and vortices that stir up nutrients and promote blooms of phytoplankton and algae.
Published May 26, 2015
The northern and western highlands of Scotland were still winter-brown and even dusted with snow in places, but the waters of the North Sea were blooming with phytoplankton on May 8, 2008, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this image. The tiny, plant-like organisms swirled in the waters off the country’s east coast, coloring the shallow coastal waters shades of bright blue and green.
Published May 13, 2008
Examining temperatures from the depths of the ocean, JPL scientists have found that lower layers of the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans grew much warmer during a decade when surface temperatures cooled.
Published Jul 10, 2015
Swirls of milky blue and green reveal the presence of massive numbers of phytoplankton in the South Atlantic Ocean near the Falkland Islands.
Published Jan 6, 2018
Some of the clearest, bluest ocean waters on Earth are found in the South Pacific.
Published Oct 12, 2017
Intense streaks of blue and green colored the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on November 15, 2009.
Published Nov 21, 2009
Iridescent shades of peacock blue and emerald green decorated the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on December 24, 2007. Though hundreds of kilometers in length, these bright bands of color were formed by miniscule objects—tiny surface-dwelling ocean plants known as phytoplankton.
Published Dec 27, 2007
