Last December, the residents of New York witnessed mysterious blue flashes in the sky giving rise to crazy conspiracy theories. But they later turned out to be due to a transformer explosion. In April, gorgeous blue spots were seen against the Northern Lights but those too weren’t from any extraterrestrial spaceships. They were, in fact, the result of NASA’s AZURE mission.
Yesterday night, the waters of Injambakkam and Eliot’s beach in Chennai glowed a brilliant blue. Some people were baffled by the shimmering blue waves while others revealed that it was a phenomenon called bioluminescence or sea tinkle.
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What exactly is bioluminescence and how is it caused?
According to The Indian Express, the blue glow was emitted by Noctiluca scintillans (a type of phytoplankton found in algae) washing ashore. The phenomenon was completely biological and a treat for the eyes. But, just like the previous instances, were appearances deceptive in this case too?
Whaaaaat a night😍Caught the #ChennaiSeaSparkle off ECR for over an hour & it was a SPECTACULAR SIGHT 😍 Brilliant Neon Blue display of glowing bioluminescent #plankton / #algae bloom lit up the crashing waves of several beaches in #Chennai tonight😍#GlobalWarming !?! #SeaSparkle pic.twitter.com/jES19GAWHL
— T R B Rajaa (@TRBRajaa) August 18, 2019
The Hindu explains that Noctiluca excrete large amounts of ammonia which is harmful to fishes. Research has also linked them with coastal pollution and the imbalance in marine food chains.
Rare phenomena at sea !ECR .. The Red Tide ! Awesomatic Australian Beach scenario's at ECR ! Waves glowed like Blue neon light ! Like the thunder ! 😎😍 #ecr #theredtide #neon #Waves #sexywaves #chennai #chennaibeach #nakkeran #thetimesofindia #TOI #SUNNetwork pic.twitter.com/BAll1tIxkX
— Yadhav Prakash (@Yadhav0557) August 18, 2019
Global warming is also directly proportional to the increased sightings of these algae. Hindustan Times quoted Pooja Kumar from the Coastal Resource Center elaborating,
“It’s important to remember that this is a sign of a possibly unhealthy ocean. It could be due to excess release of ammonia and lack of oxygen. These microscopic planktons usually bloom in areas where there is an oxygen deficit, and potentially high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, which is usually bad news for the larger marine food web. Ocean warming could also be the reason for this.”
This video shows another sighting in a different part of the world.
While they are certainly pretty to look at, they might as well be a warning signal that climate change is more drastic than we previously thought.