Explosions of Light in Oregon Coast Sand Puddles: Aspect of Glowing Sand You Should Be Looking For Now

Published 06/23/25 at 5:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Manzanita, Oregon) – One of the more spectacular aspects of summer on these beaches is roving around at night and stumbling upon the phenomenon known as glowing sand. Tiny plant-like creatures called phytoplankton create this wild wonder of the nighttime on the Oregon coast – a particular type of phytoplankton called dinoflagellates. (Steven Smith / Solution 7 Media photo of near Gold Beach. While there are no photos of galaxy-like sand pools, it will look like what Smith caught here. Long exposures of glowing waves look different than they will to the naked eye, but glowing pools will look more like this to your eye)

It also creates glowing waves out there, but that's harder to see unless you have the right camera gear. Shuffling your feet backwards in the sand under the right conditions will let you spot these extremely small, blue / green flashes, and this alone is cause for exclamation.

Right now, you should be looking for this and another aspect of it that is shriek-inducing.

Undoubtedly its most amazing form, however, is stomping your foot in the right pool of sea water at the right time and then seeing a whole galaxy of stars erupt beneath your feet. The sight is absolutely unforgettable: these puddles or pools of ocean stuff can have a much larger concentration of the unbelievable little critter, and it's like a small, silent explosion there. Speckles and blobs of light expand outward briefly.

Warrenton - Steven Smith / Solution 7 Media

While the sparks in the sand last for only a second or so, these pool “explosions” can linger a bit longer (by maybe only another second or two – but still – wow).

This does not mean TIDEPOOLS: this is sandy puddles of water. Not rocky ones where colonies of marine life live.

There's no minor irony it has the nickname “star stompin' “ on some parts of the coast – like Rockaway Beach.

See more about bioluminescent phytoplankton on the Oregon coast Bioluminescent Phytoplankton: What Makes Glowing Sand On Oregon Coast, Washington

Glowing sand has not been photographed around here much at all – and it definitely is extremely difficult to capture. For one, you need someone walking along the sand and activating them. Glowing waves get snapped by adept lens-jockeys much more. If you see that with the naked eye, you usually see a bit of a sparkling action after dark.

Where and when to see glowing sand or star-filled pools?

Close up of a dinoflagellate - photo Dr. Edith Widder (oddly enough this somewhat resembles the rush of blue / green sparks you'd see in a pool of water)

After dark, head to a dark beach (no street lights or floodlights hitting the sands). Go to the wet part of the tideline – not quite where the waves are constantly hitting. Shuffle your feet backwards and hopefully they'll be there.

Seeing the explosion of them takes more work and the chances are much better in summer. It helps a lot to have warmer conditions. Around objects sitting in the wet sand (like chunks of wood or rocks) there's often a pool of water surrounding them. Or maybe there's just random pools or water farther up the beach.

The key is it still has to be wet sand – and pools of water that have been sitting around a bit. That happens when the tide has retreated not long before. You can tell this by the fact the water is much warmer than the ocean. Stomp your foot in there. If you're really lucky, little bursts of light happen.

The conditions you need to find glowing sand / waves are awfully complex and slapdash – absolutely up to chance. You just don't know and have to head out there and see if it's around.

Glowing phytoplankton in Nehalem Bay at Wheeler - still photo from video by Angelina Martin

One thing is for sure: if it's started drizzling or raining, fresh water kills them off. Don't bother looking then.

If you've been having a day or two of sun after some stormy, wave-churning weather, that's a good time to look. Which means, yes, the glowing sand thing can be found in winter, but in summer it's much easier to find it in the pools of beach water – especially in the typically warmer days of August and September. Also, wave conditions are calmer in summer and sand levels build very high, which can make for those pools of standing water that have been around a time.

Sheanna Steingass, with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), is an expert on phytoplankton around here. She gave Oregon Coast Beach Connection some hints awhile back.

“Dinoflagellate and algal blooms happen during periods of heavy upwelling in which northerly winds cause upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water along the coast, making these nutrients available for primary producers,” she said. “So look for times when that cold wind blows heavily from the north, and for a few days/weeks thereafter.”

The two big caveats: be careful of the ocean – and you have a limited amount of phytoplankton-filled pools. Watch the waves even more closely when you're out there at night. When you stomp your foot in these bits of water, it depletes the phytoplankton very quickly. You only get two or three mini-explosions and then it's gone.

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