On May 25, 2017, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of several phytoplankton blooms in the waters around Britain and France. Increasing sunlight in the spring provides the energy for the floating, microscopic plant-like organisms to bloom in vast numbers.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.