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August 14, 2026 - Blooming Baltic Sea
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Shining swirls spun across the Baltic Sea on August 13, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. The bright green filaments float on currents in the Sea, coloring the water dramatically. This section of the Baltic Sea is bounded by Denmark (northwest), Sweden (north), Poland (southeast), and Germany (south). The round island seen in the northeast section of the image is Bornholm Island and also belongs to Denmark.
The widespread color is the result of a bloom of phytoplankton, which are microscopic plant-like organisms that can form massive floating colonies when conditions are favorable. While definitive classification of the species can’t be made by satellite imagery alone, the location, time of year, and the color of the bloom all strongly suggest this is a bloom rich in cyanobacteria. Even more telling, on August 11, German health authorities issued an alert for the presence of cyanobacteria along the coast and on August 12, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) reported surface blooms of cyanobacteria from the Southwestern to the Northern Baltic.
Cyanobacteria, previously known as “blue green algae”, typically start to show up in this part of the Baltic Sea sometime between late June and mid-July. They can grow swiftly when nutrients like phosphorus are abundant in warm, stratified waters, and they can take advantage of dissolved nitrogen in the water. Cyanobacteria impact everything from nitrogen cycling and the marine food web to bottom-layer oxygen deficiencies when the phytoplankton are broken down by bacteria.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/13/2026
Resolutions:
1km (138.8 KB), 500m (368.3 KB), 250m (915.9 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Shining swirls spun across the Baltic Sea on August 13, 2026, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. The bright green filaments float on currents in the Sea, coloring the water dramatically. This section of the Baltic Sea is bounded by Denmark (northwest), Sweden (north), Poland (southeast), and Germany (south). The round island seen in the northeast section of the image is Bornholm Island and also belongs to Denmark.
The widespread color is the result of a bloom of phytoplankton, which are microscopic plant-like organisms that can form massive floating colonies when conditions are favorable. While definitive classification of the species can’t be made by satellite imagery alone, the location, time of year, and the color of the bloom all strongly suggest this is a bloom rich in cyanobacteria. Even more telling, on August 11, German health authorities issued an alert for the presence of cyanobacteria along the coast and on August 12, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) reported surface blooms of cyanobacteria from the Southwestern to the Northern Baltic.
Cyanobacteria, previously known as “blue green algae”, typically start to show up in this part of the Baltic Sea sometime between late June and mid-July. They can grow swiftly when nutrients like phosphorus are abundant in warm, stratified waters, and they can take advantage of dissolved nitrogen in the water. Cyanobacteria impact everything from nitrogen cycling and the marine food web to bottom-layer oxygen deficiencies when the phytoplankton are broken down by bacteria.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/13/2026
Resolutions:
1km (138.8 KB), 500m (368.3 KB), 250m (915.9 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
