Images
April 23, 2019 - Phytoplankton Bloom off Argentina
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Bright jewel-toned greens and blue swirled in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on April 20, 2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image on the same day.
In this image, the colors stretch for hundreds of miles, spanning the entire image from north to south. While the colors are most intense along areas of the coast, faint color can be seen more than 200 miles (more than 300 km) away from land in the open South Atlantic. While a small amount of color hugging the coast may be from sediment sweeping into the ocean from rivers or land runoff, most of the color undoubtedly comes from miniscule objects—tiny surface-dwelling ocean plants known as phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton thrive in the ocean waters off the Argentine coast, thanks to the waters’ cool temperature and richness of nutrients. In this area, the Malvinas (Falkland) Current sweeps northward along the continental shelf, bringing with it cold water from the Southern Ocean. The action of the current sweeping along the edge of the shelf pulls nutrients up from the ocean floor. These nutrients serve as a natural fertilizer that promotes phytoplankton growth.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 4/20/2019
Resolutions:
1km (229.2 KB), 500m (588.3 KB), 250m (1.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Bright jewel-toned greens and blue swirled in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on April 20, 2019. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image on the same day.
In this image, the colors stretch for hundreds of miles, spanning the entire image from north to south. While the colors are most intense along areas of the coast, faint color can be seen more than 200 miles (more than 300 km) away from land in the open South Atlantic. While a small amount of color hugging the coast may be from sediment sweeping into the ocean from rivers or land runoff, most of the color undoubtedly comes from miniscule objects—tiny surface-dwelling ocean plants known as phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton thrive in the ocean waters off the Argentine coast, thanks to the waters’ cool temperature and richness of nutrients. In this area, the Malvinas (Falkland) Current sweeps northward along the continental shelf, bringing with it cold water from the Southern Ocean. The action of the current sweeping along the edge of the shelf pulls nutrients up from the ocean floor. These nutrients serve as a natural fertilizer that promotes phytoplankton growth.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 4/20/2019
Resolutions:
1km (229.2 KB), 500m (588.3 KB), 250m (1.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
