Plankton Crash | 13 Apr 2024

Source: TH

Recently, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) panel has attributed the cause of the sea turning red in Puducherry to the phenomenon of the plankton crash.

Ruling out algal bloom and contamination due to effluents, the NGT panel suggested
that there was a high iron concentration, which favoured plankton bloom.
A significant portion of a specific unicellular phytoplankton species, Noctiluca scintillans, was responsible for the discharge of red pigment into the water.
The environmental parameters such as sea surface temperature, water salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen were conducive to the phytoplankton crash.

Algal Bloom:

An algal bloom can be defined as a rapid increase in the population of algae in an aquatic ecosystem.
It is usually recognised by the discolouration on the surface of the water due to the introduction of a nutrient (such as nitrogen or phosphorus) into an aquatic ecosystem.