• Question: in the sea why is thee a green spot in it?

    Asked by Dr black to Tom, Jennifer, Jen, Imogen, Hephzi on 9 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Thomas Barrett

      Thomas Barrett answered on 9 Mar 2015:

      I would assume that the conditions in the green spot are different to the surrounding area. Maybe more or less nutrients or salinity?

      I do believe that these are created by big blooms of algae which are greenish in colour. There are so many of them that the area looks green.

      For more info 🙂
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom

    • Photo: Imogen Napper

      Imogen Napper answered on 10 Mar 2015:

      This could be by a number of things 😀 !

      The colour of water has to do with both the things living in it and the dirt that’s stirred up in it.

      Lots of things affect how much life there is in the water, but the most obvious is the type of dirt that makes up the sea bed in the area. The sea bed near Florida is mostly sand, which doesn’t dissolve easily in the water. It sinks, and so you see mostly clear water. The warm water also helps keep down algae, which keeps the water from turning green.

      Further north, for example the UK, the clay soils turn the water turbid, and the cool water supports a lot of microscopic life forms. Together, they can turn the water green or brown.

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