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South Pacific Ocean Around New Zealand

Image of the South Pacific Ocean around New Zealand

Phytoplankton blooms are evident throughout the South Pacific Ocean with sediment re-suspended from the ocean floor by waves and tides along much of the New Zealand coastline. In the middle of the scene is the Cook Straight with its strong tidal flows and turbulent waters stirring up nutrients from the ocean depths. This promotes high levels of phytoplankton productivity in the region. As the base of the marine food web, phytoplankton biomass support the presence of a huge assortment of marine animals around the area such as southern right whales, blue whales, sei whales, sperm whales, giant squid, fur seals, Albacore tuna, Broadbill swordfish, marlin, bluenose, mako and white sharks.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of the South Pacific Ocean around New Zealand on October 23, 2022.