Phytoplankton Bloom near Hokkaido, Japan (2009)

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms that live in the ocean, very near the surface where they get sunlight necessary for photosynthesis to produce chlorophyll, which given them their distinctive colors.

In the northwest Pacific Ocean, the Oyashio Current flows down out of the Arctic, past Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Around the latitude of Hokkaido, Japan, it begins to veer eastward and converges with the warmer Kuroshio Current, flowing into the area from the south.

The convergence causes eddies where the currents mix. The currents have different temperatures and densities, and the phytoplankton congregate at the boundaries of the eddies, making them visible from space. This image was taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite

The image was captured on 21 May 2009. Credit: NASA image by Norman Kuring, MODIS Ocean Color Team / NASA's Earth Observatory [source].

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