Scientist compares bloom caused by iron particles in smoke aerosols to ‘the entire Sahara desert turning into a productive grassland’
Smoke from the 2019-20 bushfires in Australia caused a bloom of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean larger than the entire Australian continent, according to new research.
An international team of scientists discovered via satellite data that the bloom of phytoplankton – microscopic marine algae – occurred in the ocean between South America and New Zealand beginning in October 2019 and lasting about four months.