Why is the water so blue in the Monterey Bay?

Maybe you’ve noticed that the Monterey Bay has an eye catching turquoise color to it over the last few days. It turns out, some small pre-historic plankton may be behind it.

The Monterey Bay is so blue it looks almost like a tropical setting. It’s a sight that’s caught the attention of everyone, including marine experts.

“No, no never seen it like this. I was driving home the other day and looking out as many of us have an noticed, ‘Oh my God, the ocean’s a different color,'” Dr. Kenneth Coale, biogeochemistry professor for Moss Landing Marine Laboratories said.

Coale said it’s thanks to a microscopic plant known in the science world as coccolitophores. They’re tiny organisms, only five microns in diameter. If you lined them up, would be the width of a hair. Coale said it takes a very specific set of conditions to get the water this blue.

Above average water temperature has led to fewer nutrients at the surface and those conditions favor organisms common in tropical waters.

As for the water color, in this kind of abundance, they reflect light, they change the color of the water and you know there is some kind of biological shenanigans happening out there. Coale said those microscopic plants may be unusual. But they aren’t harmful and play a powerful role in the ecosystem .

There’s no telling exactly how long the turquoise waters will last. But Coale said it’ll stick around for as long as those tiny organisms survive.