“While sailing a little south of the Plata on one very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze and every part of the surface, which during the day is seen as foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove before her bow two billows of liquid phosphorus and in her wake she was followed by a milky train. As far as the eye reached, the crest of every wave was bright, and the sky above the horizon, from the reflected glare of these livid flames, was not so utterly obscure as over the vault of the heavens.”
Charles Darwin, 1933

Seemingly in anticipation of the reopening of our beaches, the Pacific Ocean has put on a grand event complete with a light show.

With spring comes an awakening in the animal and plant worlds. Just yesterday, evidence was easily found right in our backyard; house finches were tending a nest, a monarch butterfly was checking out the flowering milkweed and the apple tree blossoms amongst myriad-like blooming flowers. Interestingly, beyond the coastline there are signs of spring. One is a magical standout!

Annually, in the later days of spring when the weather warms, there is a massive bloom of the dinoflagellate – Lingulodinium polyedra – a member of the local plankton community. When jostled by waves, a photochemical reaction in its cells emits a flash of electric neon blue. I think of its grandeur being a southern aquatic version of the aurora borealis. This phenomenon can last from a few days to a couple of months and some years are better than others. Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego claim the glow shows are most lively at least two hours after sunset.

A few more warm days are forecast. Sunday into next week looks cloudy with cooler conditions, including a chance of light rains. Time for a good book … Presently, mine is “The Origin of Species.”

Sue Kilpatrick is a Crescenta Valley
resident and Official Skywarn Spotter for
the National Weather Service Reach her at
suelkilpatrick@gmail.com.

  Sue Kilpatrick