I Heart Coccolithophores (Part 1 of 2)
Since I woke this morning thinking about algae it’s finally time to post this Earth Observatory image of an algal bloom north of Norway in the Barents Sea. The brightest blue seen here is likely from coccolithophores, which are autotrophic unicellular algae with calcareous plates called (surprise!) coccoliths. Being abundant, broadly distributed, and slow to dissolve, they are very useful in dating sedimentary rocks.
Pro tip: the white cliffs of Dover are composed largely of coccoliths.
