SST-Phytoplankton Correlation Around the Galapagos (May 1998)

  • Credit

    NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, The SeaWiFS Project and ORBIMAGE, 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 ORBIMAGE (http://www.orbimage.com).

Sea Surface Temperature-Phytoplankton Correlation around the Galapagos in May 1998

SeaWiFS documented the rapid demise of El Niño in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. The images show a explosion in plankton growth as the warm El Niño waters blamed for choking off essential ocean nutrients are replaced by deep cold upwelled waters. The false color images, which document plankton concentrations a period from May 9 to May 24 1998, show that life in the region to the west archipelago has returned in remarkable abundance. High concentrations are shown red. Areas occluded by clouds are shown in white.

A SeaWIFS image of the region around the Galapagos Islands on May 10, 1998 showing little or no phytoplankton

Metadata

  • Sensor

    OrbView-2/SeaWiFS

  • Animation ID

    208

  • Video ID

    SVS1998-0004

  • Start Timecode

    1:08:54:19

  • End Timecode

    01:09:30:11

  • Animator

    Horace Mitchell, Marte Newcombe

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    1998/06/11

  • Scientist

    Gene Feldman (NASA/GSFC)

  • Datasets

    Sea Surface Temperature

  • Keywords

    Phytoplankton, Galapagos, El Niño

  • DLESE Subject

    Physical oceanography, Biological oceanography

  • Data Date

    1998/05/10, 1998/05/25

  • Story URL

    stories/elnino/index.html

  • Animation Type

    Regular