Phytoplankton bloom along the coast of New Zealand

  • Credit

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

A large bloom of phytoplankton off the coast of New Zealand is visible in this true-color MODIS image acquired April 7, 2002. Phytoplankton is a microscopic marine organism that uses chlorophyll for photosynthesis. Sunlight reflects off of the organisms and results in a bright blue-green color.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2002-04-18