Anyone seen a 'milky sea' in Arabian Sea?

[AlexF]

Hi guys. I'm working on a BBC TV series trying to film unusual natural phenomena. Apart from St Elmo's Fire (which I now have some great leads on), another phenomenon I'm chasing is something called 'milky sea'. It's caused by bioluminsecent bacteria which can bloom in such numbers that the sea literally glows milky white at night. It covers an area of something like 15,000km sq and can be seen from space, so I imagine from the air it looks pretty special.

It's rare, and so far pretty unpredictable, but appears to occur chiefly in the weastern Arabian sea, especially around the island of Socotra. It also seems to occur mostly around July-Sept, though with a secondary peak in January.

I'd be very interested to hear if anyone's seen one of these events, and any details they can remember about it. And if anyone sees one int he next couple of years then definitely drop me a line as it only lasts 3-4 days and we'd want to get out there immediately to film it!

Thanks!

Alex ([email protected])

[divingduck]

HAven't seen the "milky sea"tht you refer too...unless you count crap visibility! Then I have seen it many times:E

I have, on the East coast of Oman seen very bright bio-luminescence in the sea.
The whole place lights up like a christmas tree every time a wave rolls in, you can fee the trails left by fish or turtles etc.
Usually in the warmer months.

[tonyosborne]

Isn't this the algae that glows in the wake of a ship as well?

[John Holmes]

The milky sea??? In areas remote of major cities the Arabian/Persian Gulf is surprizingly clean, crystal clear in many areas. Sadly however, the sea around DXB, DOH, BAH and KWI is quite murky from waterbourne sediment, sand coloured, not milky. Of course nowhere near as bad as the open sewer that surrounds the entire Indian Continental Effluent Treatment Works; but still the Gulf marine envirnment is steadily being fouled. Seems dredging operations are mostly to blame.

This bioluminsecent bacteria of which you speack does exist, and in the summer months swimmers at the Inland Sea (clean water) can enjoy the light show. It is only visible when physically disturbed, so the story about viewing it from the air or space I think is just a myth.

Tropical waters all around the world exist the same.

[Soap Box Cowboy]

Met a guy in the navy once that said they could see the Iranian Kilo subs at night due to the algea glow around them. The shallow depth of the gulf makes it hard for the subs to dive and hide. Not exactly stealthy when they see you coming a few miles away :}

Also heard a rumour that one of the Iranian subs is missing presumed squashed by a Super tanker :E

[AlexF]

The 'milky sea' phenomenon is definitely different from the more common bioluminescence that occurs when the waters are disturbed by, say, a boat or fish (or swimmer!) - although I hadn't thought you'd be able to see that kind fromt he air, so that's something I'll look out for too - thansk!

The rarer phenomenon which can be seen from satellite and covers thunsands of square km does definitely exist and has once been studied. For those who are itnerested, here's a link to some recent research:

http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/organism/milkysea.html

Definitely something to look out for!

[ruserious]

Well my memory is notoriously thin, but I was once told that the Jumeirah area of Dubai was named after this luminescence, as the word means shiny sea or something similar in Arabic.

[Abbas Al Zadjali]

Dear Alex .. I believe what I witnessed two hours ago (8.30 pm Muscat time) was very close to the milky-sea glowing-water phenomenon.

I was coming back with friends from a fishing trip and just about 3 miles to the shore we passed through a glowing patches of water around one kilometer in radius, the glowing lights were pale green in colour and kept flashing from about 5 to 10 meters under the surface !!

There was no fish or bait activity or any type of algae around and the water was crystal clear. We slowed down and passed over the patches which kept glowing their pale green lights as if they were coming from a submerged huge UFO !!.

I have been fishing in Muscat and Oman waters for decades and never witnessed such a phenomenon. I have seen strange things but nothing like the flashing patches.

I might visit the same location tomorrow night with still and video cameras hoping to see the strange patches and their dramatic flashing effect.

[AlexF]

That is very exciting! Do let me know if you get any pictures!

[Microburst2002]

Yes

Now there are two thinks you have to keep an eye on, when fishing in those waters: Pirates and luminiscent bacteria