Phenomena

Blooming in Blue

This satellite images shows a late summer phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea.

Summers in the Barents Sea — a shallow region off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia — trigger phytoplankton blooms like the one in this satellite image. The blue shade of the bloom suggests the work of coccolithophores, a type of plankton armored in white calcium carbonate. This type of plankton thrives in the warm, stratified waters of the late summer. Earlier in the year, the water tends to be nutrient-rich and well-mixed, conditions which favor diatom plankton species instead. Their blooms appear greener in satellite images. (Image credit: W. Liang; via NASA Earth Observatory)

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