{"id":683794,"date":"2026-06-04T11:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/683794\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T11:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T11:32:22","slug":"why-does-the-jersey-shores-ocean-look-so-blue-right-now-blame-wind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/683794\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does the Jersey Shore’s ocean look so blue right now? Blame wind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The waters off the Jersey Shore have a Caribbean vibe these days looking unusually blue and green. You can thank spring weather for the turquoise swirls and super tiny ocean plants.<\/p>\n

NASA satellites began spotting the colorful patches<\/a> off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia in April.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been \u201ca productive year with a lot of seasonal upwelling and phytoplankton blooms,\u201d said Rutgers University oceanographer Oscar Schofield<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what that means.<\/p>\n

Repainting the water<\/p>\n

Phytoplankton are microscopic algae, plant-like organisms that drift with ocean currents. They may be tiny, but when conditions are right, they multiply quickly and change the color of the water.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A woman coaxes a man to come deeper into the water as they swim in Asbury Park. Our Shore Towns: Asbury Park: From sunrise till past sunset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average plant size in the ocean is about 50 microns,\u201d said Schofield, who is chair of Rutgers University\u2019s Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can show up in a week, and then they could be gone in a week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wind fertilizing the ocean<\/p>\n

Southwest winds can push surface water near the Shore out to sea. Colder, deeper water then rises to replace it, bringing nutrients that help phytoplankton grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have protracted periods of lots of southwest wind, it’s almost like it’s helping fertilize the ocean and promotes these big blooms of algae,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cold & blue vs. warm & green<\/p>\n

The seafloor at the Shore is uneven, and that affects how water moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go to one beach and the water is super cold,\u201d Schofield said. \u201cAnd then you can go 10 miles up the road and the water is super warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means the bluest water won\u2019t be at every beach. The areas around Tuckerton and just south of Asbury Park are deeper and nutrient-rich. That can create conditions for phytoplankton blooms. These are places you\u2019re more likely to see this blue water. Check conditions online before you go because things change quickly when the wind shifts, said Schofield.<\/p>\n

Good fishing means more blooms<\/p>\n

The same water conditions that help phytoplankton grow also support more marine life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften the beaches that you see are really good for fishing tend to be those regions where you get a lot of these algal blooms,\u201d Schofield said.<\/p>\n

Is it safe to swim?<\/p>\n

Yes, this is a natural process that happens often, he said. It\u2019s not pollution and it\u2019s not dangerous.<\/p>\n

Harmful algae exists elsewhere, like the red tides that happen in places such as Florida, Schofield said. But they\u2019re not typical here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have no hesitation going for a swim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

How long will it last?<\/p>\n

New Jersey often sees several of these bloom events during warmer months, Schofield said. A typical bloom may last about seven to 10 days, but this spring\u2019s winds have kept the nutrients around longer.<\/p>\n

\"Children<\/p>\n

Children play in the water at the Asbury Park beach. Our Shore Towns: Asbury Park: From sunrise till past sunset.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Algae blooms making Jersey Shore ocean look blue, but it may not last<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The waters off the Jersey Shore have a Caribbean vibe these days looking unusually blue and green. You…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[297449,297447,192,44595,43865,297448,297446,297445,70771,79,95451],"class_list":["post-683794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-blue-water","tag-deeper-water","tag-environment","tag-jersey-shore","tag-ocean-currents","tag-ocean-plants","tag-oscar-schofield","tag-phytoplankton-blooms","tag-rutgers-university","tag-science","tag-surface-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}