Science On a Sphere: 4 Years of Biosphere

  • Released Monday, January 20, 2025
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Interactive Sphere:

This is an interactive 3D model! Swipe with one finger to rotate the model.
This is an interactive 3D model! Click and drag to rotate the model.

Example of this data set playing on an interactive sphere.

Example showing the biosphere data playing on an interactive globe. Feel free to spin it around or zoom in and out to better examine the data. The file bio_dates2.txt is a label file containing the animation dates for each frame number.

Biosphere data processed for display on Science On a Sphere (SOS).

By using satellites to monitor the color of light reflected from the land and ocean, scientists can determine how successfully plants are photosynthesizing. This data visualization shows the abundance of plant life over a four year period. 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, such as in deserts or ice cover. In the ocean, dark blue represents areas where there is little phytoplankton (the grass of the sea), whereas yellow and orange represent nutrient-rich areas where phytoplankton thrive.

Colorbar for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) land cover data. Shades of brown depict little to no vegetation (for example, the Sahara Desert), whereas deep green are large amounts of vegetation (for example, the South American Rainforest).

Colorbar for the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) land cover data. Shades of brown depict little to no vegetation (for example, the Sahara Desert), whereas deep green are large amounts of vegetation (for example, the South American Rainforest).

Colorbar representing the Ocean's chlorophyll. Blues down to violet are areas with little to no chlorophyll. Green to yellow indicate high chlorophyll concentrations or other color dissolved organic materials.

Colorbar representing the Ocean's chlorophyll. Blues down to violet are areas with little to no chlorophyll. Green to yellow indicate high chlorophyll concentrations or other color dissolved organic materials.

Colorbar representing the Ocean's chlorophyll using actual data values . Blues down to violet are areas with little to no chlorophyll. Green to yellow indicate high chlorophyll concentrations or other color dissolved organic materials.

Colorbar representing the Ocean's chlorophyll using actual data values . Blues down to violet are areas with little to no chlorophyll. Green to yellow indicate high chlorophyll concentrations or other color dissolved organic materials.

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 Monday, January 20, 2025.
This page was last updated on Monday, May 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM EDT.

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Datasets used

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