Cyanobacteria are a microscopic, photosynthesizing form of algae usually harmlessly living in most bodies of water. However, lots of sunlight, still water, and runoff pollution from fertilizers can create ideal condition for their growth, causing their numbers to quickly explode. This rapid growth can produce harmful algal blooms, which can become toxic and dangerous to aquatic life, wetland animals, and people. The blooms can poison fishing waters, close water recreation areas, trigger tourism economic losses, and worse.

NASA has some of the world’s best Earth observation platforms for detecting and analyzing harmful algal blooms for the benefit of environmental science and human safety.