File:Phytoplankton bloom off British Columbia (MODIS 2015-07-31).jpg

English: A large phytoplankton bloom was coloring the waters off of British Columbia, Canada in early July, 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) captured this true-color image on July 8. Bright blues and green pour from Queen Charlotte Sound and swirl in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine phytoplankton, which are plant-like organisms, require just the right amount of sunlight, dissolved nutrients and water temperatures to explosively reproduce into massive blooms that color the waters for hundreds of kilometers. In the Pacific Northwest of North America in the summer, warming land temperatures create favorable winds that blow offshore and push surface waters away from the coast. This causes cooler, nutrient-rich waters to well up from the depths and provide the right conditions for blooms. The phytoplankton can become a rich food source for zooplankton, fish, and other marine species; however, some species can also deplete the water of oxygen and become toxic to marine life.