Phytoplankton off the West Coast of Africa

Click here to view full image (293 kb)

Just off the coast of West Africa, persistent northeasterly trade winds often churn up deep ocean water. When the nutrients in these deep waters reach the ocean’s surface, they often give rise to large blooms of phytoplankton. This image of the Mauritanian coast shows swirls of phytoplankton fed by the upwelling of nutrient-rich water. The scene was acquired by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) aboard the European Space Agency’s ENVISAT. MERIS will monitor changes in phytoplankton across Earth's oceans and seas, both for the purpose of managing fisheries and conducting global change research.

NASA scientists will use data from this European instrument in the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) program. The mission of SIMBIOS is to construct a consistent long-term dataset of ocean color (phytoplankton abundance) measurements made by multiple satellite instruments, including the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

For more information about MERIS and ENVISAT, visit the ENVISAT home page.

Image copyright European Space Agency

Recommend this Image to a Friend

Back to: Newsroom

Also see