The team combined satellite data with in situ measurements of water samples taken during a month-long summer 2012 cruise in the North Atlantic to quantify the growth, life, and death of an approximately 30-kilometer (18.6-mile)-wide bloom of Emiliana huxleyi, one of the most abundant marine algae. The patterns they observed mimicked their previous experimental studies. “We didn’t expect to see such a clear, sharp signature in nature that resembled what we had measured in the lab,” said Vardi.