NASA showed the flowering of the Baltic from space

NASA published a picture of a part of the Baltic Sea in July. At this time, the phytoplankton spreads over the sea, which forms a spiral pattern on the surface. The photo was taken with the help of the device Operational Land Imager (OLI) from the satellite Landsat 8.

These green plants on the surface are in fact more often cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that capture and conserve energy through photosynthesis. Sometimes there you can find diatoms.

The researchers reported that this month the level of oxygen in the sea is at the lowest possible level due to the abundant flowering of phytoplankton. In the basin, from this appear “dead” zones without fish and other marine life, in these areas, all nutrients are eaten by small organisms.