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The paper titled, “Honing in on bioluminescent milky seas from space” was published in Scientific Reports on 29 July 2021. This paper discusses VIIRS Day/Night Band observations of 12 milky sea events. Milky seas are a rare phenomenon where the surface of the ocean appears to glow at night with the water taking on a milky appearance. Recorded observations of milky seas from mariners, dating back as early as 1864, often claim this glowing, milky water stretches from horizon to horizon around the ship. Milky seas are a form of bioluminescence believed to be caused by the saprophytic relationship between a luminous bacteria and microalgae that occurs on a large scale. However, given the rare nature of these events, little in situ research has been performed. Previously, the only satellite-based observations of a milky sea event came from the Operational Linescan System (OLS) onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Now, for the first time, researchers led by Steve Miller (CIRA) have searched exhaustively through the VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB) record, dating back to 2012, and identified 12 milky sea events. It is hoped that, moving forward, routine inspection of DNB imagery in the regions where milky seas are most common can be coordinated with research vessels to directly observe a milky sea event as it occurs, thus answering many of the remaining scientific questions surrounding this mysterious phenomenon. The full reference is provided below. This article was also published under Open Access, and is available at the following URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-94823-z. Interested readers are encouraged not to forget to check out the supplemental materials provided at the bottom of that webpage (below the references) for a list of mariner reports of milky sea sightings and the full list of DNB-detected milky sea events – so far.
Miller, S.D., Haddock, S.H.D., Straka, W.C., Seaman, C.J., Combs, C.L., Wang, M., Shi, W. and Nam, S.-H. Honing in on bioluminescent milky seas from space. Sci Rep 11, 15443 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-94823-z
(POC: S. Miller, C. Seaman and C. Combs, CIRA; W. Straka, III, CIMSS; M. Wang and W. Shi, STAR; Steven.Miller@colostate.edu; Curtis.Seaman@colostate.edu; Cindy.Combs@colostate.edu; william.straka@ssec.wisc.edu; Menghua.Wang@noaa.gov; Wei.1.Shi@noaa.gov) Funding: JPSS