January 8, 2021 - Phytoplankton Blooms off South America

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   Phytoplankton Blooms off South America
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   Swirls of bright blue and dull green floated in the waters off the
   coast of Argentina in early January 2020, each marking a bloom of
   phytoplankton. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
   the blooms on January 5, 2021.

   Phytoplankton are tiny, plant-like organisms that float near the ocean
   surface and turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars and oxygen. In
   turn, they become food for the grazing zooplankton, shellfish, and
   finfish of the sea. The also play an important role in the global
   carbon cycle, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sinking
   it to the bottom of the ocean.

   Phytoplankton live in these waters year-round and, when conditions are
   right burst into explosive reproduction, creating large blooms which
   can be easily seen from space. This part of the South Atlantic Ocean,
   off the coast of Argentina and north of the Falkland Islands, presents
   a favorable environment for blooms of this kind. It here that warm
   waters from the south-flowing Brazil Current mix with the north-flowing
   branch of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This turbulent mixing
   brings nutrients up from the bottom as well as moderates temperature,
   creating prime conditions for phytoplankton growth and reproduction.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 1/5/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (331.1 KB),  500m (1.1 MB),  250m (3.1 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-01-08
 
