News Oceans

Can bioluminescent ‘milky seas’ be predicted?

Knowing where huge patches of luminous ocean might appear could let scientists finally study them

This satellite image shows a pale expanse of sea just below the island of Java in the Indian Ocean. A white line traversiing the image is the track of a yacht that sailed through this "milky sea." The track turns blue where the yacht traveled through the giant patch of bioluminescence.

A satellite captured a potential milky sea (middle) in the Indian Ocean, south of the Indonesian island of Java (the bright area outlined at the top of the image) in 2019. A yacht happened to sail by in August, its track denoted by the white line that turns turquoise where it crosses the milky sea, confirming this was indeed what the satellites observed.

S.D. Miller/PNAS 2022

By Bas den Hond

BURLINGTON, Vt.