Image: Spring Bloom in New Zealand Waters

Description: Off the east coast of New Zealand, cold rivers of water that have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south past North Island. The surface waters of this meeting place are New Zealand's most biologically productive. This image of the area shows the basis for that productivity: large blooms of plantlike organisms called phytoplankton. Phytoplankton use chlorophyll and other pigments to absorb sunlight for photosynthesis, and when they grow in large numbers, they change the way the ocean surface reflects sunlight. Caught up in eddies and currents, the blooms create intricate patterns of blues and greens that spread across thousands of square kilometres of the sea surface. Especially bright blue areas may indicate the presence of phytoplankton called coccolithophores, which are coated with calcium-carbonate scales that are very reflective. The duller greenish-brown areas of the bloom may be diatoms, which have a silica-based covering.
Title: Spring Bloom in New Zealand Waters
Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Author: Jeff Schmaltz
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No