We use cookies to improve your experience, some are essential for the operation of this site.

Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.

Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.
Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.
Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.
Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.
Comments (0)
525398
François, Roger and Bacon, Michael P.
Satellite image used for analyzing 2 areas of global ocean surface water.
Illustration
06/01/1997
global chlorophyll.jpg
Date is approximate.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 40, No. 2, Pg. 30:
Ocean color measured by satellite. In the tropical open ocean, productivity is comparatively low due to permanent thermal stratification of surface waters that limits the supply of nutrients from deeper waters. The resulting flux of biogenic material to the deep sea is also low. In contrast, in the more productive regions of the ocean, abundant phytoplankton sustain much larger sinking fluxes of biogenic material. These regions are most prominent at the eastern margins of the oceans and at the equator, where divergence of wind driven surface currents brings nutrient-rich water from intermediate depths to the surface. Seasonally high productivity can also be found at higher latitudes due to the seasonal breakdown of upper water stratification in winter and to deep convective mixing.
Courtesy of Roger François and Michael P. Bacon
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Labels
This item includes these files
Image
Image
Collections