MODIS Sea Surface Temperature from 2002 to 2006 around Australia

  • Released Tuesday, December 5, 2006
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A recent study indicates there is a correlation between ocean nutrients and changes in sea surface temperature (SST). The results show that when ocean water warms, marine plant life in the form of microscopic phytoplankton tend to decline. When water cools, plant life flourishes. Changes in phytoplankton growth influence fishery yields and the amount of carbon dioxide the oceans remove from the atmosphere. This could have major implications on the future of our ocean's food web and how it relates to climate change.

The temperature data in this visualization comes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard NASA's Terra and Aqua spacecraft.

In order to see the correlation between SST and SeaWiFS data, this animation can be compared to 'SeaWiFS Biosphere Data over Australia'. Please click here to see this other animation.

This animation shows a 32-day moving average of SST data around the world and around Australia. This data continuously loops from July 4, 2002 to October 23, 2006.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2006/warm_marine.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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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Papers used in this visualization

'Climate-Driven Trends in Contemporary Ocean Productivity', Nature, Dec. 7

Datasets used in this visualization

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.