Swirls in the Waters off France

Springtime brought a substantial and long-lasting bloom of phytoplankton in the Bay of Biscay, off the western coast of France.
Swirls of green, turquoise, and cyan on the water surface show the location of these microscopic, plant-like organisms, while also tracing the currents and eddies that mix them. NASA satellite captured this natural-color image of a phytoplankton-filled Bay of Biscay in the spring of 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured the top image on May 4.

Read more, high res: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=81102 Credit: NASA Earth Observatory Largerimage