Swirling plumes of phytoplankton in the Arabian Sea have been snapped by NASA鈥檚 Aqua satellite.
It shows undulating green-yellow ribbons of the tiny ocean plants, which are especially dense off the coast of Pakistan and towards Oman. The growth may have been boosted in this region by recent floods in Pakistan, which washed nutrient-rich waters into the sea.
鈥淔lood water sweeps minerals from the land into the ocean, providing iron and other nutrients for phytoplankton to grow,鈥� a NASA statement explains. Wind-blown dust storms over the waters, observed on 17 and 19 February, may have provided further nutrients, the space agency suggests.
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The latest picture from NASA鈥檚 Aqua satellite, taken on Tuesday, reveals high chlorophyll concentrations (in yellow) in the Arabian Sea, indicating that the phytoplankton is thriving.
鈥淒ead zones鈥�
Chlorophyll is the compound which gives plants their green colour and is fundamental to photosynthesis. An abundance of phytoplankton is crucial to marine animals as a primary source of food.
But too much can create marine 鈥渄ead zones鈥� as, when the huge numbers of tiny plants die, the bacteria which consume them can draw all the oxygen from the waters, suffocating other sea creatures. The high concentrations of phytoplankton seen snaking off the Pakistan and Oman coastlines may indicate potential problem areas.
The Aqua satellite, which crosses the Earth鈥檚 equator from south to north in the afternoon, captured the image using its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. MODIS acquires data in 36 spectral bands or wavelengths, and pictures the entire surface of the Earth at least once every two days.
