Puzzle Ocean Seasons : Bloom

Dinoflagellate Ceratium pentagonum var robustum (Photo : Sophie Marro)

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Drifting profiling floats in the Atlantic

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The seasonal evolution of the chlorophyll a concentration as seen by a « water color » satellite (SeaWifs) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Phytoplankton bloom observed by the ocean color sensor MODIS onboard NASA satellite Terra in May 2010. The bloom spreads broadly in the North Atlantic from Iceland to the Bay of Biscay - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)

Surface chlorophyll a concentration in the global ocean.

Crab Zoea larva (Photo : Fabien Lombard)

Coccolithophore (Photo : Sophie Marro)

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The various components of a profiling float type PROVOR

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Colony of diatoms genus Bacillaria whose single cells slide against each other (Video : Sophie Marro)

Deployment of a profiling float (Photo : Jean-Jacques Pangrazi)

Rosette used to collect seawater samples during a scientific cruise in the South Pacific Ocean. During the austral summer, the amount of chlorophyll a is so low that the water becomes deep blue, almost purple. (Photo : Joséphine Ras)