High tides and strong currents keep sediment on the move in India’s Gulf of Khambhat.
Published Jan 29, 2022
Satellites can track Noctiluca scintillans, a type of phytoplankton that produce a bioluminescent glow at night.
Published Oct 7, 2019
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
Meltwater from Alaska’s glaciers washed into the Gulf of Alaska, delivering nutrients that gave rise to a colorful phytoplankton bloom.
Published Jun 25, 2016
After studying 71 lakes in 33 countries, researchers found that phytoplankton and algae blooms are generally increasing around the world.
Published Jun 11, 2020
Extreme water temperatures in 2018 fit with a much longer trend in the region, which is among the fastest-warming parts of the global ocean.
Published Sep 12, 2018
The shallow water around Bahrain allows satellites to observe some effects of development on reefs and other aquatic features.
Published Aug 15, 2022
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
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