Glowing Plankton Ring Spotted Around Chatham Islands from Space
NASA’s NOAA-20 satellite captured a large near-infrared image of a luminous coccolithophore-dominated plankton bloom forming a ring around New Zealand’s Chatham Islands. The bloom, one of the largest in recent decades, highlights the Chatham Rise’s role in fostering surface productivity, while the same underwater plateau is linked to frequent whale strandings in shallow waters, illustrating how ocean features can support life yet pose risks to marine mammals.