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back to article Bloomin’ big: algae seen from space

An algal bloom has emerged near Antarctica, so large that it’s not just visible but prominent in satellite images. The bloom, roughly 200 x 100 kilometers, has shown up in images taken by NASA’s Modis instrument on the Terra satellite. It has emerged off the coast of Mac Robertson Land and was identified by scientists from the …

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  1. Jolyon Smith
    IT Angle

    You forgot a life-form in the feeding frenzy food chain...

    "The bloom is expected to spark a local feeding frenzy for everything from krill and other zooplankton, through to fish, penguins, seals, whales and ultimately climate change proponents."

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    1. Ian Stephenson
      Reply Icon
      Boffin

      Re: You forgot a life-form in the feeding frenzy food chain...

      In all fairness it probably is caued by elevated CO2.

      CO2 +sunlight ----algal photosynthesis--> O2 + more algae.

      It., like climate change will balance out over the next century or so, with or without our interference.

      But the facts never stopped the warmists before.

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      1. Crisp
        Reply Icon
        Boffin

        Re: You forgot a life-form in the feeding frenzy food chain...

        While CO2 and sunlight are necessary for photosynthesis, if that's all it took to make algae grow then we'd being seeing blooms like this everywhere.

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      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Down

        Re: You forgot a life-form in the feeding frenzy food chain...

        Can you support either statement?

        Yes, the algae consume CO2, and benefit from CO2. But we've nowhere near enough satellite observations (or Southern Ocean obs. period) to say how much effect Anthropogenic climate change has had on algal blooms.

        As for, "will balance out over the next century or so", all our observations (paleoclimate, fossils) and theory show the time to "balance out" and recover are multiple millenia.

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        1. Ian Stephenson
          Reply Icon
          Holmes

          Re: multiple millenia

          I was being generous with the century or so. Any politician involved is only interested in the next term of office and the climate so called "scientists" in the next funding round.

          Me? If I last another half century it'll be a surprise (more so to some people than others) so century - tens of millenia? doesnt really matter that much.

          Either way, planet Earth will manage, with or without us.

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          1. NomNomNom
            Reply Icon

            Re: multiple millenia

            the way the climate will balance out is through a massive drop in ocean pH and a massive increase in global surface temperature with no consideration for the life within it.

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      3. laird cummings
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        @ Ian

        So. You failed to actualy read the article, and went off on your own pet theories based on... What?

        vis:

        "While not certain about the cause of the bloom, Curran notes that small traces of iron in Antarctic snow blown out to sea could partly be driving the event, since iron is a nutrient to algae"

        I see no mention of any other causes or potential causes - not even speculation - in the article. On what do you base your assertion?

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        1. Ian Stephenson
          Reply Icon

          @ laird cummings

          I assume you mean "In all fairness .... CO2"? as opposed to the dead in 50 years?

          I base it on a rudimentary knowledge of biology from real O levels and observation of algae build up on aquaria.

          So basically far better than most warmists.

          Next!

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Plus...

    ... for the whales, Japanese 'Scientific Research' vessels.

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  3. Dick Head
    Linux

    You forgot the RSUs...

    Register Standard Units: area about 0.96 Wales.

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  4. Purlieu

    I, for one

    welcome our new 200km algae overlords

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  5. Neil Greatorex
    Happy

    Ahem!

    "Any commenters know how to get Modis images into QGis? - RC."

    I thought we'd agreed on "commentards"....

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  6. Chuckl

    'Any commenters know how to get Modis images into QGis? - RC'

    Usually by being half competent at what they do.

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  7. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Pirate

    "iron is a nutrient to algae".

    Better not drive your boat through that, then. You may have to walk home across 200km of algae after they've eaten your ship out from under you.

    I suppose adding chlorine to the water won't help?

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    more remote sensing stuff

    the lab where I work provide most of the UK based remote sensing capability (we do all the Modis gubbins)

    http://www.neodaas.ac.uk/

    http://rsg.pml.ac.uk/

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