Last updated 13:07 28/10/2009

BLOOMING LOVELY: Large blooms of plantlike organisms called phytoplankton seen in New Zealand waters from a NASA satellite.

A vast plankton bloom occurring east of New Zealand has been captured by satellite.

NASA released the picture taken on October 25 showing the large blooms of plantlike organisms called phytoplankton.

It has occurred off the east coast where cold rivers of water have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past the South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south past the North Island.

“The surface waters of this meeting place are New Zealand’s most biologically productive,” NASA says in a statement.

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Filed under: Ali Perkins, News/Current Affairs