Sea Surface Temperature-Phytoplankton Correlation around the Galapagos in May 1998

  • Released Thursday, June 11, 1998
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SeaWiFS documented the rapid demise of El Niño in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. The images show a explosion in plankton growth as the warm El Niño waters blamed for choking off essential ocean nutrients are replaced by deep cold upwelled waters. The false color images, which document plankton concentrations a period from May 9 to May 24, 1998, show that life in the region to the west archipelago has returned in remarkable abundance. High concentrations are shown red. Areas occluded by clouds are shown in white.

A fade from May 10 to May 25, 1998 showing sea surface temperature and phytoplankton density near the Galapagos

A SeaWIFS image of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 10, 1998 showing little or no phytoplankton

A SeaWIFS image of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 10, 1998 showing little or no phytoplankton

A SeaWIFS image of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 25, 1998 showing a large phytoplankton bloom

A SeaWIFS image of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 25, 1998 showing a large phytoplankton bloom

SeaWIFS images of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 10, 1998 and May 25, 1998 compared with NCEP sea surface temperatures, showing the return of sea life as the ocean cools after El Niño

SeaWIFS images of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 10, 1998 and May 25, 1998 compared with NCEP sea surface temperatures, showing the return of sea life as the ocean cools after El Niño

For More Information

See http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/elnino/index.html

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).

This page was originally published on Thursday, June 11, 1998.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:59 PM EDT.

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Datasets used in this visualization

  • [NOAA-14: AVHRR]

    ID: 69
    Sensor: AVHRR Dates used: 1998/05/10, 1998/05/25
    See all pages that use this dataset

  • NDVI [SeaStar: SeaWiFS]

    ID: 601
    Sensor: SeaWiFS Dates used: 1998/05/10, 1998/05/25

    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.).

    See all pages that use this dataset

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