Global Biosphere from August, 1997 to July, 2003 (WMS)

  • Released Thursday, June 17, 2004
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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 the first six years' worth of data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument, showing the abundance of life both on land and in the sea. In the ocean, 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. On land, green represents areas of abundant plant life, such as forests and grasslands, while tan and white represent areas where plant life is sparse or non-existent, such as the deserts in Africa and the Middle East and snow-cover and ice at the poles.

This animation shows the first six years worth of biosphere data taken by the SeaWiFS instrument. On land, areas of high plant life are shown in dark green, while areas of low plant life are shown in tan. In the ocean, areas of high phytoplankton are shown in red, and areas of lowest phytoplankton are shown in blue and purple.

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This is the legend for the global biosphere animation. There are two different, but related, types of data shown. On land, plant life is denoted in shades of tan (low) and green (high), while reds and yellows denote areas of high ocean chlorophyll and blues denote low concentrations.

This is the legend for the global biosphere animation. There are two different, but related, types of data shown. On land, plant life is denoted in shades of tan (low) and green (high), while reds and yellows denote areas of high ocean chlorophyll and blues denote low concentrations.

The large animation above is split into smaller pieces that can be played on the hyperwall. Each piece is named according to a standard spreadsheet convention with a1 at the upper left and c3 at the lower right. This image illustrates this naming convention used in the diced-up frame sets below.

The large animation above is split into smaller pieces that can be played on the hyperwall. Each piece is named according to a standard spreadsheet convention with a1 at the upper left and c3 at the lower right. This image illustrates this naming convention used in the diced-up frame sets below.

For More Information

See http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.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 17, 2004.
This page was last updated on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 4:00 PM EDT.

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series:

Datasets used in this visualization

  • Global Biosphere [SeaStar: SeaWiFS]

    ID: 467
    Sensor: SeaWiFS Dates used: 1997/08/13 - 2003/07/20

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