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LiveScience
LiveScience
Harry Baker

Mysterious 'sea swirls' off Poland's coast have a surprising explanation

A false-color satellite image of mysterious slicks on the ocean surface in the Bay of Gdansk in Poland captured by the European Space Agency's  Sentinel-2A satellite on May 16, 2018. (Image credit: ESA/NASA Earth Observatory)

Scientists have finally identified the surprising origin of bizarre ocean slicks that appear to swirl around the surface of the Baltic Sea — tree pollen. 

The mysterious slicks are most prominently visible in a color-corrected satellite image captured off the coast of Gdansk in Poland on May 16, 2018, but they have appeared multiple times in satellite images in recent years. 

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