<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/washington_amo_2016206.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/washington_amo_2016206.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/washington_amo_2016206.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > An image captured by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows a phytoplankton bloom stretching across the Hood Canal in Washington. (NASA Earth Observatory ) (NASA Earth Observatory )

Green-hued water has been appeared across the nation from Florida to Colorado, but this time a bloom has been spotted in Washington state.

An image captured by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) shows a phytoplankton bloom stretching across Hood Canal , a narrow inlet in the Puget Sound in Washington.

University of Washington oceanographer Jan Newton says the canal can be an active area for algae growth.

“It has also been very sunny lately, so that begets blooms,” she added.

Washington Sea Grant marine water quality specialist Teri King captured a photograph of the bloom as she was driving to Hood Canal. She shared the image on the Bivalves for Clean Water Facebook page.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/hoodcanal_photo_2016203_lrg.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/hoodcanal_photo_2016203_lrg.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/hoodcanal_photo_2016203_lrg.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > A photo captured by Washington Sea Grant marine water quality specialist Teri King shows the coccolithophore bloom tinting the Hood Canal a blue-green. (Teri King/NASA Earth Observatory ) (Teri King/NASA Earth Observatory )

Coincidentally, King was on her way to train a group of volunteers for SoundToxins, a citizen science monitoring program that documents harmful algal blooms, unusual blooms and new species entering the Salish Sea, according to the post.

After taking a sample of the water, she confirmed that the color of the water was due to a coccolithophore bloom.

Coccolithophores are one-celled phytoplankton that live in large populations through the ocean’s upper layers. They surround themselves with a microscopic plating made of limestone. Areas of water that have trillions of these marine plants will turn an opaque turquoise from the dense cloud of cocoliths. Researchers estimate the organisms release more than 1.5 million tons of calcite a year, which makes them the leading calcite producers in the ocean.

“It’s hard to miss a bloom of this color,” wrote King. “We don’t see them often, but when we do it is remarkable. The water takes on a tropical blue-green appearance with white speckles. The white is due to the calcium carbonate that the Coccolithophores have in their plates.”

A particularly large bloom of the phytoplankton was spotted in Hood Canal in July and August 2007, according to NASA. This month’s bloom is expected to coincide with oyster spawning in the canal.

“We don’t believe there will be a problem with the spawn and the bloom,” King told NASA. “We are watching closely.”

Coccolithophores make their shells out of one part carbon, one part calcium, and three parts oxygen. According to Newton, blooms in the Hood Canal are a concern because they could trigger hypoxia, the depletion of oxygen in the water.

“This carbon will eventually be respired as microbes break it down, typically at depth,” said Newton. “And that adds to an oxygen draw-down.”