Chlorophyll
The chlorophyll maps show milligrams of chlorophyll per cubic meter of seawater each month. Places where chlorophyll amounts were very low, indicating very low numbers of phytoplankton are blue. Places where chlorophyll concentrations were high, meaning many phytoplankton were growing, are yellow. The observations come from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. Land is dark gray, and places where MODIS could not collect data (reasons include sea ice, polar darkness, or clouds) are light gray.
Net Radiation
The map of net flux shows monthly changes in the balance of incoming and outgoing energy on Earth as measured by the Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. Places where the amounts of incoming and outgoing energy were in balance are yellow. Places where more energy was coming in than going out (energy surplus) are red. Places where less energy was coming in than going out (energy deficit) are blue-green.
Download a Quicktime animation of this comparison (2 MB)
- View, download, or analyze more of these data from NASA Earth Observations (NEO):
- Chlorophyll
- Net Radiation