Super El Niño forces dramatic color shift in the Pacific Ocean
NASA satellite imagery shows that the current Super El Niño event has caused a significant color shift in the equatorial Pacific Ocean from green to blue. This change is attributed to a decline in phytoplankton populations, which are starved of nutrients due to the suppressed upwelling caused by El Niño conditions.
Why it matters
The decline in phytoplankton, the base of the marine food web, signals broader ecological disruptions caused by major climate patterns like El Niño.
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Make New York Post a Preferred Source It’s a true blue natural phenomenon.
In the wake of developing a “mutant” second arm , this year’s Super El Niño weather system is also apparently changing the face of the Pacific Ocean.
Satellite images from NASA show that over the past year, the water color around the equatorial band of the Pacific has changed dramatically from verdant green to Cerulean blue.
This shift is a predictable and direct consequence of El Niño conditions, which develop when weakened trade winds allow unusually warm water to build across the central and eastern tropical Pacific.
“Some people think of water as being just blue, but it’s amazing the multitude of colors the ocean can be,” said Matthew Kehrli, a lead research scientist for the PACE satellite team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
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