Phytoplankton bloom near Cape Verde Islands

  • Credit

    Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Dust from the Sahara Desert blows out over the Atlantic Ocean, and nutrients present in the dust "fertilize" the water, supporting blooms of marine plant life. This true-color MODIS image from November 5, 2001, shows a bloom of phytoplankton occurring in the Atlantic Ocean beneath a cloud of dust. At the image's lower left are the Cape Verde Islands.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2001-11-05