Why do tropical places have blue water?

The reason the ocean is blue is due to the absorption and scattering of light, NASA explains. The blue wavelengths of light are scattered, similar to the scattering of blue light in the sky, but absorption is a much larger factor than scattering for the clear ocean water.



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Why Is The Maldives Water So Blue And Clear? Maldives water is known for its abundance of coral reefs. The waters of Maldives are known to consist of coral reefs and “phytoplankton” which absorbs blue and green colours from the sunlight due to which it causes clean water and you can see crystal clear reflection.

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The Maldives The Maldives, located in the Indian Ocean, have around 1,190 islands and sandbanks.

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Because the tropics have warm surface water, even in the winter, the thermocline never goes away, and the nutrients stay trapped down below in the depths. So even with ample sunlight, phytoplankton growth is severly limited. In the tropics, predators like coral make good use of what little plankton there is.

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The Weddell Sea has been claimed by scientists to have the clearest waters of any ocean in the world. Described by a historian as “the most wretched and dismal region on earth”, due to the flash freezes that caught Shackleton's ship, its clarity is only belied by the sheer depth of the ocean below.

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Hawaii's ocean water is nutrient deficient. This is common in tropical areas with warm surface water temperatures. A lack of nutrients means there are fewer phytoplankton and algae in Hawaii's water, which makes it more blue.

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The Southern Ocean is not only far-off, but also unambiguously the stormiest region of the planet. Of the sectors of the Southern Ocean, the South Pacific is the most remote — there aren't even islands. It is just this vast stretch of ocean, about 10,000 kilometers between Chile and Australia.

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Ocean water is clear due to the shallow sandy plateau of the Bahamas. Ocean depths are only 10 — 30m with white sand bottom for miles around the islands. Crystal clear.

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What's the secret behind the glow? There's no secret but a microorganism called phytoplankton/plankton involved behind this mesmerising shining beach. These aquatic microbes are bioluminescent in nature and radiate a vibrant blue light under sea.

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The Maldives, for example, is made up more than 1,000 islands spread over 90,000 square kilometers, making it 99% water.

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