March 5, 2023 - Early Bloom in the North Sea

Bloom in the North Sea
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The waters of the North Sea were tinted with tones of green and tan in
early March 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
the colorful scene on March 2.

A bit of cloud wafts over the Denmark in the east and a bit of Norway’s
coast can be seen in the north. A halo-like wash of green and tan
floats just off the coast of Denmark, while the deeper waters well
offshore carry a dark green tint. The near-shore color is almost
certainly primarily sediment which has been carried into the North Sea
from various rivers or has been washed from the land into the Sea. The
deepwater colors, however, are evidence of a bloom of phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that thrive in cold,
nutrient-rich waters. They use photosynthesis, like their land-based
plant relatives, to convert sunlight into energy. It is the chlorophyll
in these organisms that gives them their greenish hue. When these
organisms concentrate in enough numbers, the mass (called a “bloom”)
can be seen from space.

Blooms of phytoplankton are often seen in the North Sea, typically
becoming brightest and most easily seen in late spring and summer. A
recent study published in Biogeosciences sampled the waters of the
North Sea off of northern Scotland, confirming that phytoplankton
numbers remain substantial in even in winter, when light levels are
low. Their sampling showed that the spring bloom, which often appears
at its most colorful staring in late April or May, is actually
initiated just after the winter solstice (late December) as
phytoplankton numbers begin to increase. They also found that dominant
phytoplankton types changed over annual cycle, with smaller species
predominant from November to March and larger species most common
during the spring bloom maximum and in summer.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 3/2/2023
Resolutions: 1km (213.2 KB), 500m (578.7 KB), 250m (1.1 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=2023-03-05

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