A beautiful phytoplankton bloom off the coast of Tunisia

Today’s Image of the Day comes thanks to the NASA Earth Observatory and features a look at a stunning phytoplankton bloom just off the coast of Tunisia. The photo was captured by the Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.

Phytoplankton blooms like this one are not uncommon in such nutrient rich waters, especially in this part of the Mediterranean. They can also occur as a result of nutrient runoff caused by river flow.

While most phytoplankton blooms are innocuous and beautiful to look at from above, they sometimes become harmful if they suck up too much of the oxygen in the water.

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By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: NASA Earth Observatory