Chlorophyll-a in the Pacific Southern Ocean

Smoke and ash from the Australian 2019-2020 bushfires triggered phytoplankton blooms in the Pacific Southern Ocean, thousands of kilometres away. Phytoplankton are known to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as these tiny organisms consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. These extensive phytoplankton blooms are said to have covered an area approximately the size of the Sahara Desert, more than 9.4 million sq km.

This graph shows the chlorophyll-a concentration from 1997 to 2020 in the Pacific Southern Ocean, based on data from ESA’s Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative.

Read full story: Carbon dioxide released from Australian bushfires triggers algal blooms