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NASA has revealed a weird aquatic glowing life form in the ocean that is visible from space.
Forget the possibility of life on Mars or aliens patrolling the Milky Way for a moment, as scientists say they've come across something unusual right here on our home planet.
Satellite footage from NASA has seemingly spotted a strange fluorescent glow blooming somewhere in the Great Australian Bight and Tasman Sea that they've only managed to spot some miles above the Earth.
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According to EcoNews, the colorful aquatic glowing life form can be seen in the area all the way from space.
Space-based observations from the Earth Observatory at NASA has long been tracking marine conditions across our seas, feeding back high-definition of the planet and its vast oceans in real time.
The satellites have developed sensors to measure emission signals with scientists confirming the bright glow is actually bioluminescence from phytoplankton - in other words, algae - that is in bloom.
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Earlier this year on their Facebook page, NASA Ocean explained: "Phytoplankton bloom in the waters between the southeastern coast of Australia and Tasmania, named Bass Strait. The region is known for its turbulent waters and harbors numerous shipwrecks.
"The strait provides the most direct waterway between the Great Australian Bight and the Tasman Sea, and is also the only maritime route into the economically prominent Port Phillip Bay."
An image of the luminous turquoise and green hues of the algae in bloom was taken by the OCI sensor aboard the PACE spacecraft in November last year, but it wasn't the first time the filaments of plant-like organisms were spotted.
A VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) sensor on the Suomi NPP satellite picked up on the bloom in January last year, while NASA's Terra and Aqua satellite documented the first instances of the bloom becoming visible from space in late December 2023, according to NASA.
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“The green filament is definitely a phytoplankton bloom extending along the shelf break, which is around 150 meters deep,” Jochen Kaempf, a Flinders University oceanographer who has published studies about phytoplankton in this area, said. “The bluer signal could be sediment located in very shallow water or perhaps a different phytoplankton species.”
Phytoplankton are fuelled from the deep ocean's rich nutrients, prompted by the remains of dead sea life that constantly sinks to the ocean floor to decompose, such as nitrogen and phosphorous.
When this nutrient-rich water reaches the top of the water, the light from the 'photic zone' can prompt the growth of the phytoplankton population that blooms and cause surface concentrations of chlorophyll-a, a type of green pigment involved in photosynthesis, hence its glow.
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Aquatic ecosystems rely on phytoplankton to live, as it produces oxygen for the ocean while also supplying food vital for marine life.
On the Bonney Coast, marine biologists estimate the bloom attracts around 80 blue whales every year to graze while other species such as crabs, sardines, anchovies, tuna and other types of fish thrive in the waters as a result.