Phytoplankton Blooms through the Eyes of SeaWiFS Data

  • Released Tuesday, December 5, 2006
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The SeaWiFS instrument aboard the Seastar satellite has been collecting ocean data since 1997. By monitoring the color of reflected light via satellite, scientists can determine how successfully plant life is photosynthesizing. A measurement of photosynthesis is essentially a measurement of successful growth, and growth means successful use of ambient carbon. This animation represents nearly a decade's worth of data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument, showing the abundance of life in the sea. Dark blue represents warmer areas where there is little life due to lack of nutrients, and greens and reds represent cooler nutrient-rich areas. The nutrient-rich areas include coastal regions where cold water rises from the sea floor bringing nutrients along and areas at the mouths of rivers where the rivers have brought nutrients into the ocean from the land. Dark gray indicate areas where no data was collected.

Animation depicting nearly a decades worth of SeaWiFS ocean chlorophyll concentration and land Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, The SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye, Scientific Visualization Studio. NOTE: All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye (NOTE: In January 2013, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye combined to become DigitalGlobe).

Data provided by: Norman Kuring (NASA/GSFC)

This page was originally published on Tuesday, December 5, 2006.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:55 PM EDT.

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Datasets used

  • Global Biosphere [SeaStar: SeaWiFS]

    ID: 467
    Sensor: SeaWiFS Dates used: 08/29/1997 - 10/23/2006

    SeaWiFS Global Biosphere is a combination of the Land NDVI and Chlorophyll Concentration data sets. All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye.

    Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, The SeaWiFS Project and GeoEye, Scientific Visualization Studio. NOTE: All SeaWiFS images and data presented on this web site are for research and educational use only. All commercial use of SeaWiFS data must be coordinated with GeoEye (NOTE: In January 2013, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye combined to become one DigitalGlobe.).

    This dataset can be found at: http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/PRODUCTS/

    See all pages that use this dataset

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.