2022 Phytoplankton Blooms and Red Tides

Floating, plant-like organisms reproduce abundantly when there are sufficient nutrients, sunlight, and water conditions. Extreme blooms of certain species can become harmful to marine animals and humans.
Summer Color for Hood Canal
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Summer Color for Hood Canal

Though they were a bit tardy this year, the coccolithophores have arrived in Washington’s waters.

Published Aug 26, 2022

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Greening the Gulf of Finland
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Greening the Gulf of Finland

Blue-green algae are thriving in warmer-than-normal waters this summer.

Published Aug 18, 2022

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Blooming Lake Okeechobee
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Blooming Lake Okeechobee

Nearly half of the lake was covered with blue-green algae in early July 2022.

Published Jul 15, 2022

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Summer Bloomin’ in the Pacific Northwest
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Summer Bloomin’ in the Pacific Northwest

Unusually cloud-free skies allowed satellites to observe colorful phenomenon taking shape in the region’s coastal waters.

Published Jul 1, 2022

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Brilliant Color in the Black Sea
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Brilliant Color in the Black Sea

As spring 2022 turned the page to summer, phytoplankton turned the seawater from dark to vivid.

Published Jun 27, 2022

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Phytoplankton Productivity Down in Gulf of Maine
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Phytoplankton Productivity Down in Gulf of Maine

New research shows that phytoplankton in the region are about 65 percent less productive than they were two decades ago.

Published Jun 7, 2022

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Bristol Abloom
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Bristol Abloom

Phytoplankton have brightened the waters off of Wales and England.

Published Jun 3, 2022

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Stirring Up a Mid-Atlantic Bloom
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Stirring Up a Mid-Atlantic Bloom

In mid-May, cool waters and abundant sunlight provoked a widespread phytoplankton bloom.

Published May 21, 2022

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Coloring the South Atlantic
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Coloring the South Atlantic

At a place where seven different water masses meet, the waters are teeming with phytoplankton and fish.

Published Jan 27, 2022

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Red Tide off Rio
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Red Tide off Rio

A dark, rainy spring gave way to a vast, long-lived phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Brazil.

Published Jan 12, 2022

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