Phytoplankton in the Tasman Sea

When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color satellite image on November 17, 2016, phytoplankton swirled off the coast of Australia. The bloom gave parts of the Tasman Sea a lighter shade of blue. Like land-based plants, phytoplankton require sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow.

• References

• NASA Earth Observatory (2010, July 13) What are Phytoplankton?

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NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Published November 18, 2016
Data acquired November 17, 2016

Source:

Aqua > MODIS