Earth  ID: 2623

West Coast Chlorophyll Bloom

Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on board the Orbview 2 satellite captured the phytoplankton bloom October 6, 2002 . Red represents high concentration of chlorophyll, follow by orange, yellow and green. Land and cloud portions of the image are presented in natural color.
SeaWiFS monitors ocean plant life by measuring the amount of chlorophyll in the ocean. Large phytoplankton blooms tend to coincide with natural phenomena that drive that nutrient-rich water to the surface. The process is called upwelling. Winds coming off principal land masses push surface layers of water away from the shore. Into the resulting wind-driven void deeper water underneath the surface layers rushes in toward the coast, bringing with it nutrients for life to bloom. This upwelling fuel the growth of marine phytoplankton which, along with larger seaweeds, nourishes the incredible diversity of creatures found along the northern and central California coast.

Visualization Credits

Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Gene Feldman (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
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).

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2623

Data Used:
SeaStar/SeaWiFS
2002/10/06
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
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.).
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.

Keywords:
DLESE >> Biological oceanography
DLESE >> Chemistry
SVS >> Chlorophyll
SVS >> Phytoplankton
GCMD >> Location >> California
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0