Milky seas effect

Common card · No. 469989

Milky seas, sometimes confused with mareel, are a luminous phenomenon in the ocean in which large areas of seawater (up to 100,000 km2 or 39,000 mi2) appear to glow diffusely and continuously (in varying shades of blue). Such occurrences glow brightly enough at night to be visible from satellites orbiting Earth. Unlike flashing waves or red-tide luminescence caused by algae such as dinoflagellates, milky seas originate from luminous bacteria. Mariners and other seafarers have reported that the ocean often emits a visible glow which extends for miles at night. In 2005, scientists announced that for the first time, they had obtained photographic evidence of this glow. In a follow-up study, they observed a glow that persisted for over 40 days.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Dr Steve Miller, from the Naval Research Laboratory; and PNAS, Public domain