Ocean Color Image Gallery

Spring Blooms around Southeastern Australia

Some fraction of the carbon fixed by phytoplankton blooming around Tasmania will eventually sink deep enough in the water column that it is unlikely to re-enter the atmosphere for a long time. Warming temperatures in the region may be reducing this carbon sequestration by increasing microbial respiration of organic carbon as it drifts downward through the water column.

Click on the above Suomi-NPP/VIIRS composite collected on November 18, 2018 to get a larger version.