May 22, 2022 - Bloom in Bass Strait

Bloom in Bass Strait
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Swaths of milky-toned peacock blue tones marked a bloom of
phytoplankton just off the northern coast of Tasmania, in mid-May 2022.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the colors
tinting the water of the Bass Strait through a cloudy sky on May 20.

Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms that live in these
waters in small quantities year-round and, when conditions are just
right, can reproduce explosively to create large floating colonies
(blooms) that are easily seen from space. The Bass Strait separates
mainland Australia (north) from Tasmania (south) and has a varied
topography that helps create upwellings of nutrients from the shallow
seafloor, helping spur phytoplankton blooms during various times of the
year, especially from January to March, but blooms may be present at
almost any time. These organisms for the base of the marine food chain
and so support a rich fishery and biodiverse marine ecosystem in the
strait.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 5/20/2022
Resolutions: 1km (257.4 KB), 500m (697.8 KB), 250m (1.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-05-22

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