• → European Space Agency

      • Space for Europe
      • Space News
      • Space in Images
      • Space in Videos
    • About Us

      • Welcome to ESA
      • DG's news and views
      • For Member State Delegations
      • Business with ESA
      • Law at ESA
      • ESA Exhibitions
      • ESA Publications
      • Careers at ESA
      • ESAshop
    • Our Activities

      • Space News
      • Observing the Earth
      • Human Spaceflight
      • Space Transportation
      • Navigation
      • Space Science
      • Space Engineering & Technology
      • Operations
      • Telecommunications & Integrated Applications
      • Preparing for the Future
    • Careers at ESA

    • For Media

      • Media
      • ESA TV
      • Videos for professionals
      • Photos
    • For Educators

    • For Kids

    • ESA

    • Observing the Earth

    • Understanding Our Planet

    • Securing Our Environment

    • Benefiting Our Economy

    • About Earth observation
    • View from above
    • ESA for Earth
    • How to access data
    • Satellite missions
    • Mission navigator
    • EO programmes and activities
    • Copernicus
    • The Living Planet
    • Campaigns
    • The International Charter Space and Major Disasters
    • Multimedia
    • Image Gallery
    • Video Gallery
    • Download the 2018 Sentinel calendar

    ESA > Our Activities > Observing the Earth

    Earth from Space: Water art

    7 December 2007

    The vibrant aquamarine-coloured swirls of a plankton bloom decorate the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean just off the shores of the Republic of Namibia in this Envisat image.

    Plankton, the most abundant type of life found in the ocean, are microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the surface of the sea. Microscopic plankton have been called 'the grass of the sea' because they are the basic food on which all other marine life depends.

    Because plankton contain photosynthetic chlorophyll pigments, these simple organisms also play a similar role to terrestrial ‘green’ plants in the photosynthetic process. Plankton are able to convert inorganic compounds such as water, nitrogen and carbon into complex organic materials.

    With their ability to ‘digest’ these compounds, they are credited with removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as their earthbound ‘cousins’. As a result, the oceans have a profound influence on climate. Since plankton are a major influence on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and are sensitive to environmental changes, it is important to monitor and model them into calculations of future climate change.

    Although some types of plankton are individually microscopic, the chlorophyll they use for photosynthesis collectively tints the colour of the surrounding ocean waters, providing a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated 'ocean colour' sensors, such as Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument, onboard satellites.

    MERIS’s primary objective is to provide quantitative ocean-colour measurements, but the sensor has enough flexibility to serve applications in atmospheric and land-surface science as well.

    This 6 November 2007 image was acquired by MERIS while working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres.

    Rate this

    Views

    Share

    • Currently 0 out of 5 Stars.
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    Rating: 0/5 (0 votes cast)

    Thank you for rating!

    You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once!

    Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating!

    334
    Tweet
    • Image of the week archive
    • Satellite Images
      Satellite Images
      Earth images gallery
    • Related missions
      • Envisat overview - obsolete
      • In French
        • Art aquatique
    • App Store
    • Subscribe
    • mobile version
    • ESA Observing the Earth Twitter

    @ESA_EO

    • LATEST ARTICLES
    • · Sentinel-3B on launch pad
    • · Walking on the Moon – underwater
    • · Storm hunter in position
    • · Mars impact crater or supervolcano?
    • · Top tomatoes thanks to Mars missio…
    • FAQ

    • Site Map

    • Contacts

    • Terms and conditions