The bright offshore bloom is most likely caused by coccolithophores, microscopic single-celled plant-like organisms that live in large numbers throughout the upper layers of the ocean.
These tiny microscopic plants are covered in an armour plating of white chalk plates, which means that when they form massive blooms of billions of coccolithophores they can turn the sea a milky colour and this can sometimes be seen from space.
Coccolithophores are found from subpolar regions to the tropics.
