File:Phytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea (4970549945).jpg
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DescriptionPhytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea (4970549945).jpg |
NASA image acquired August 31, 2010 To see a detail of this image go to: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4971318856/">www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4971318856/</a> In this natural-color image from August 31, 2010, the ocean’s canvas swirls with turquoise, teal, navy, and green, the abstract art of the natural world. The colors were painted by a massive phytoplankton bloom made up of millions of tiny, light-reflecting organisms growing in the sunlit surface waters of the Barents Sea. Such blooms peak every August in the Barents Sea. The variations in color are caused by different species and concentrations of phytoplankton. The bright blue colors are probably from coccolithophores, a type of phytoplankton that is coated in a chalky shell that reflects light, turning the ocean a milky turquoise. Coccolithophores dominate the Barents Sea in August. Shades of green are likely from diatoms, another type of phytoplankton. Diatoms usually dominate the Barents Sea earlier in the year, giving way to coccolithophores in the late summer. However, field measurements of previous August blooms have also turned up high concentrations of diatoms. The Barents Sea is a shallow sea sandwiched between the coastline of northern Russia and Scandinavia and the islands of Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya. Within the shallow basin, currents carrying warm, salty water from the Atlantic collide with currents carrying cold, fresher water from the Arctic. During the winter, strong winds drive the currents and mix the waters. When winter’s sea ice retreats and light returns in the spring, diatoms thrive, typically peaking in a large bloom in late May. The shift between diatoms and coccolithophores occurs as the Barents Sea changes during the summer months. Throughout summer, perpetual light falls on the waters, gradually warming the surface. Eventually, the ocean stratifies into layers, with warm water sitting on top of cooler water. The diatoms deplete most of the nutrients in the surface waters and stop growing. Coccolithophores, on the other hand, do well in warm, nutrient-depleted water with a lot of light. In the Barents Sea, these conditions are strongest in August. The shifting conditions and corresponding change in species lead to strikingly beautiful multicolored blooms such as this one. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image. NASA image courtesy Norman Kuring, NASA Ocean Color Group. Caption by Holli Riebeek. Instrument: Aqua - MODIS Click here to see more images from <a href="#//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Goddard’s Earth Observatory</a> NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> |
Date | |
Source | Phytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea |
Author | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Greenbelt, MD, USA |
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Goddard Photo and Video at https://flickr.com/photos/24662369@N07/4970549945 (archive). It was reviewed on 12 May 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
12 May 2018
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This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.) | ||
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Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 23:56, 11 May 2018 | 8,054 × 5,817 (7.94 MB) | OceanAtoll (talk | contribs) | Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons |
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Image title |
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Orientation | Normal |
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh |
File change date and time | 16:23, 3 September 2010 |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
Image width | 8,054 px |
Image height | 5,817 px |
Date and time of digitizing | 05:45, 3 September 2010 |
Date metadata was last modified | 12:23, 3 September 2010 |
IIM version | 4 |