Twenty thousand leagues over the seas: the first satellite perspective on bioluminescent ‘milky seas’

Maritime folklore is replete with accounts of the nighttime ocean surface producing an intense glow likened to a cloudbank or snowfield for as far as the eye can see. While scientists have postulated bioluminescence as being the cause for these so‐called ‘milky seas’, their full explanation remains a mystery due to the inherent difficulties of obtaining in situ measurements of events in progress. Presented here are details pertaining to the first satellite‐based detection of a milky sea—an area of the Indian Ocean roughly 300 km long by 50 km wide was observed to glow over three nights. These findings, confirmed by surface reports, reveal an unanticipated application of low‐light satellite sensors, and provide a new means toward understanding the formation, scale, and ecological role of these extraordinary and poorly understood phenomena.

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