Phytoplankton light up surf on the Outer Banks

By on September 19, 2016

Moonrise at Barnes Street Sunday. (Amanda Wood)

With a full moon overhead, the surf along portions of the Outer Banks the last few nights has been aglow not only with the lunar illumination but the electric blue of what are most commonly known as dinoflagellates.

“They are an algal population that occurs south of here,” said Nancy White, director of the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in Skyco.

White said they are more common along parts of Florida and Puerto Rico, and the recent southeasterly flow of wind and waves has pushed them up to our end of the North Carolina coast.

They were most noticeable Saturday and Sunday nights, but it’s not known how long they will be around.

“They may stay until they die out or a wind shift could take them home,” White said.

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