Australia’s Black Summer Bushfires Created an Algae Bloom Larger Than the Country

Himawari-8 satellite image showing smoke from January 2020 bushfires stretching over the South Pacific. Japanese Meteorological Agency

Australia’s devastating Black Summer bushfire season gave life to a bloom of phytoplankton larger than the size of Australia in the Southern Ocean, a study has found.

An international team of authors found the bloom, that took place between New Zealand and South America, was unlike anything measured before in the area.