File:Europe (MODIS 2018-05-11).jpg

English: Increasing sunlight and springtime warmth promotes greening of the landscape – the time when grasses, flowers, and trees begin to leaf out and blossom.

On May 6, 2018, a fresh flush of green was visible as the NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over Europe, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua to acquire a true-color image of the spring scene.

Snow can be seen capping the Alps, the most extensive mountain range found entirely in Europe. These high mountains stretch across eight countries, including France, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany and Slovenia. Another large mountain range, the Pyrenees, lies on the border of Spain and France. These mountains are hidden under cloud at the southern edge of the image.

The warmth and lengthening light of spring not only stimulate growth of plants on land, they also lead to warming ocean waters which, in turn, provoke blooms of microscopic plant-like organisms. Known as phytoplankton, these tiny organisms float near the ocean surface and turn sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars and oxygen. They are present year-round in the waters of the North Sea in small numbers and, when conditions are just right, they can reproduce so vigorously that the vast blooms can be easily seen from space.

In this image, a broad bloom swirls in the North Sea, with the brightest colors stretching from near England’s southeast coast to off the coasts of Germany and Denmark. Duller, less dramatic blooms appear to nearly fill the North Sea.