Giant Spiral of Plankton imaged by satellite

NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of a large plankton bloom off the south coast of Western Australia.

As the close-up image shows, an eddy is outlined by a milky green phytoplankton bloom. Eddies are masses of water that typically spin off of larger currents and rotate in whirlpool-like fashion. They can stretch for hundreds of kilometers and last for months. As these water masses stir the ocean, they can draw nutrients up from the deep, fertilizing the surface waters to create blooms in the open ocean. Other times, they carry in nutrients spun off of other currents.

earthobservatory.nasa.gov...

Wow! That is beautiful and crazy/wild at the same time.

Our oceans are amazing and I wish we knew about even half of what exists in them. Thanks for sharing. S&F.

It's funny how everything has it's own job to do and it's own role to play in the survival of our world.

At least it isn't a bunch of these guys -



We'd be in trouble for sure.

Or an underwater Norway spiral.

DrunkYogi
Or an underwater Norway spiral.

Or a Plankstorm.

reply to post by Trueman


Or a giant Planknado O_O.

reply to post by AlphaHawk


Awesome. A lot like the Hubble images from deep space. Fractal fun huh?

F&S&

Wow, glowing plankton, THANKS FUKUSHIMA !

reply to post by MadHatter364


Nothing to do with Fukushima, it's natural and called bioluminescence.

Very cool.

reply to post by AlphaHawk

I know I know, 't was a joke.

reply to post by MadHatter364


Lol, ok. Hard to tell sometimes