Published on 1 December 2022
On 26 November 2022, one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites captured multiple phytoplankton blooms off the coast of the Falkland/Malvinas Archipelago.
In this area of the South Atlantic Ocean, it is common to observe blooms extending over hundreds of square kilometres. However, this bloom has already exceeded an extension of about 600 000 square kilometres, a value that had not been reached at the end of November since 2008.
Phytoplankton blooms are indicators of the health of a marine ecosystem. The Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites provide high-frequency water quality monitoring of the oceans.