As a reminder that spring is relative depending on Earth's hemisphere, phytoplankton blooms, which were especially troublesome in the northern hemisphere's 2015 spring, have now been spotted via satellite in the southern hemisphere's spring.
Phytoplankton Blooming Along Both U.S. Coasts
Prodigious phytoplankton growth can be toxic to an ecosystem, suffocating marine life (by depleting the oxygen in the sea) or producing toxins that can sicken and sometimes kill the creatures (including humans) who ingest them.
Phytoplankton Bloom Found in the Bering Sea
The Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 captured this view of a phytoplankton bloom near Alaska's Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea on Sept. 22, 2014. The water's milky green and light blue shading indicates the presence of vast populations of microscopic phytoplankton.
