File:Clouds and Bloom off the West Coast of the United States (MODIS 2024-09-24).jpg

English: Widespread clouds and a jewel-toned phytoplankton bloom decorated the Pacific Ocean off the coast off the West Coast of the United States on September 22. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the complex and beautiful scene on that same day.

The clouds in the northwest hang over an area that is often covered by clouds. They are the leading edge of a large bank of marine stratocumulus that stretched northward to the Beaufort Sea and westward to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Further south, a large bank of low cloud (fog) stretches along the coast of California and in some places creeps over the coast to cover the coast, especially near Santa Rosa and San Francisco (both located just south of edge of the image). Two foggy swirls demonstrate the pattern of wind blowing off the coast.

The milky jewel-toned colors are evidence of a bloom of phytoplankton—microscopic plant-like organisms—that live in Earth’s oceans and lakes year-round in relatively small numbers. Given adequate light, nutrients, and water temperatures phytoplankton can reproduce explosively to make large floating blooms that can easily be viewed from space.