A catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet

• Credit:

  Jeff Schmaltz

Enormous clouds of rich blue-green phytplankton swirl through the waters of the Bay of Biscay in this true-color Aqua MODIS image acquired April 29, 2005. Stretching across almost the entirety of the Bay, the phytoplankton reveal currents and eddies in the water. Phytoplankton are tiny single-celled organisms that feed off of sunlight and nutrients in the water; they use chlorophyll, like their land-based plant relatives, to drive this process. It is the chlorophyll that gives them their distinctive colors, and which in large-enough populations helps them stand out against the deep blue of clear water. More information about Earth Observatory website.

Images & Animations

• Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
• NASA Official: Steven E. Platnick
• Database Updated: May 7, 2013