NASA Spots an "Eye" of Smoke and Phytoplankton near Cape Barren Island

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Australia's Cape Barren Island and captured an image of phytoplankton and smoke from fires that resembled an eye and eyebrow.

The Tasmanian Fire Service reported that a vegetation fire near Thunder and Lightning Bay, Cape Barren Island started on December 4 and was still blazing on December 8. Cape Barren Island is one of a trail of islands in the Bass Strait of the South Pacific Ocean, between southeastern Australia and Tasmania.

This natural-color satellite image from Dec. 7 was collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument that flies aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite.

The red dots in the image represent heat signatures from the fires as detected by VIIRS. A light grey stream of smoke was blowing to the southeast in what could be seen as the "eyebrow" to the "eye" or swirl of blue and green phytoplankton below it.

Phytoplankton are tiny microscopic plant-like organisms that form the base of the marine food chain. Like land plants, phytoplankton contain chlorophyll which is used in photosynthesis to turn sunlight into chemical energy. The chlorophyll gives the phytoplankton their green color, which is visible from space when large numbers of the organism group together.

NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team #nasagoddard #earth #smoke #Phytoplankton #science

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