1. Phytoplankton Bloom

2. What is Phytoplankton?
Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain
They capture energy from the sun through photosynthesis that helps sustain almost all the marine life in the oceans
Coccolithophore Phytoplankton bloom in the gulf of Maine

3. Where are Phytoplankton Found?
Coccolithophore Phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Maine
Phytoplankton are developed at the surface of the sea
Phytoplankton bloom during the spring because the sunlight increases and there are more nutrients for them on the surface

4. How do Phytoplankton Live?
Like all plants, they need sunlight, carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients to grow
The nutrients phytoplankton need for growing are nitrate, phosphate, and silicate
These nutrients are found in deep, cold water and are brought to the surface by upwellings in the ocean

5. Benefits of Phytoplankton
We need phytoplankton to be able to live everyday
Why? Because phytoplankton produce more than half of the Earth’s oxygen
How? They consume carbon dioxide from the ocean during photosynthesis and emit oxygen as a by-product

6. Did you know?
Phytoplankton contain chlorophyll-a, a pigment that gives plants a greenish color
Some areas of the ocean water tend to look a bit greenish because of the abundance of phytoplankton in the water
Because they are at the bottom of the food chain the phytoplankton sustain all life in the Earth’s oceans

7. Food Chain To fish, nothing beats phytoplankton
Fish eat phytoplankton for nutrients and energy
Juvenile fish, sand lance, mature fish, and whales eat phytoplankton

8. How do we know about Phytoplankton?
Buoys play a big part in tracking phytoplankton
marine biologists are using MODIS (moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)
It is a sensor used onboard the Terra satellite.

9. How are the Buoys used?
They measure the ocean and its air to see weather or not the phytoplankton will bloom
Air pressure
Wave height
period
Water temperature
Wind speed
Wind direction
Sea water salinity

10. Types of buoys
There are four types of buoys up and down the gulf of Maine
NOAA
CMAN
MVCO
GoMOOS

11. Where are the buoys found?
Most of the buoys are found up and down the gulf of Maine
By some major cities like:
Jonesport
Isle of Shoals
Node
Northeast Channel
Boston Harbor

12. How does the weather effect the bloom of phytoplankton?
The temperature of the water has to be warm
The ocean wave height has to be just right to have an upwelling to bring nutrients up to the surface
The buoys will measure all of this to predict the bloom
The buoys also measure the chlorophyll in the water to estimate the number of phytoplankton in the water

13. What happens if the phytoplankton don’t bloom?
The earth has less oxygen for life to breath
The food chain is broken and sea life will die off of starvation
Carbon dioxide will be more abundant and poison us to death

14. The End