Phytoplankton and blue-green algae blooms off of Scandinavia seem to be particularly intense this summer.
Published Jul 23, 2018
Changing conditions in the waters near Alaska promotes late summer phytoplankton growth.
Published Sep 19, 2014
An important player in the nitrogen cycle, Trichodesmium makes a seasonal appearance off the northeast coast of Australia.
Published Sep 16, 2019
Nearly every summer, phytoplankton trace the sea’s currents, eddies, and flows.
Published Aug 19, 2020
Satellites can track Noctiluca scintillans, a type of phytoplankton that produce a bioluminescent glow at night.
Published Oct 7, 2019
Phytoplankton explosions off the east and west coasts of the United States have both benign and harmful impacts.
Published Aug 9, 2015
Phytoplankton blooms tend to show up in this Gulf in mid-summer and mid-autumn, but they can happen in winter too.
Published Apr 2, 2018
This true-color image captures a Ross Sea phytoplankton bloom on January 22, 2011, as viewed by the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite.
Published Jan 29, 2011
The waters off of the Alaskan coast usually come alive each spring with colorful swirls of phytoplankton.
Published Jul 14, 2018
Several phytoplankton blooms swirled in the waters of the Caspian Sea.
Published Aug 9, 2017
Phytoplankton swirled across the Arabian Sea on February 18, 2010, drawn into thin green ribbons by turbulent eddies.
Published Mar 8, 2010
Fueled by the Oyashio current, the waters off of northeastern Japan support a bounty of phytoplankton and fishes.
Published Jun 4, 2019
This image captures a plankton bloom in the Capricorn Channel off the Queensland coast of Australia. The whispy pattern of the bloom suggests that the plankton are Trichodesmium—a photosynthetic cyanobacteria, also called “sea saw dust” that is common in the world’s oceans. Trichodesmium is frequently observed around Australia this time of year. In fact, Captain Cook’s ship logs written while he was sailing in Australian waters in the 1700s contain detailed descriptions of Trichodesmium blooms. Astronauts frequently photograph large plankton blooms during their missions because a significant portion of the ISS orbits cross long stretches of ocean. In the process, astronauts become acute observers of subtle changes in sea surface dynamics. Imagery of surface plankton blooms offer multi-dimensional (in space and time) visualizations of the unique physical and chemical circumstances that support the blooms.
Published Dec 29, 2002
An annual summertime bloom of cyanobacteria flourished in such numbers as to be visible from space.
Published Aug 23, 2015
Winds in southwest Asia mix dust into the atmosphere and seed a striking bloom in the sea.
Published Jan 27, 2016
The dynamic colors of ocean phytoplankton blooms reflect a host of dynamic relationships occurring below the water line.
Published Jan 9, 2015
