Global Maps

colorbar

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll
colorbar

Water Vapor

Water Vapor
Skip to beginning
Step back one
Play
Step forward one
Skip to end

Download a Quicktime animation of this comparison (10 MB)

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.

Water Vapor

The water vapor maps show the total amount of water vapor in the column of air between the surface and the top of the atmosphere on average for the month. The observations were made by the MODIS sensor on NASA's Aqua satellite. Places where the air was dry are yellow, while places where water vapor was abundant are blue.

View, download, or analyze more of these data from NASA Earth Observations (NEO):
Chlorophyll
Water Vapor

Chlorophyll & Water Vapor

Share