False-colour satellite image of the world's oceans, showing the distribution of phytoplankton in the surface water. The colours represent varying phyt

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False-colour satellite image of the world's oceans, showing the distribution of phytoplankton in the surface water. The colours represent varying phytoplankton densities from red (most dense) through yellow, green and blue to violet (least dense). Grey areas are data gaps. This image is an average of distributions for October- December 1979 and shows the seasonal build-up of phytoplankton along the equator, especially off the western coasts of Africa & South America. The image was produced from data acquired by the Coastal Zone Colour Scanner, one of the instruments on NASA's Nimbus-7 research satellite.

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Size: 3992px × 2333px
Photo credit: © DR GENE FELDMAN, NASA GSFC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., algae, algal, bloom, coastal, colour, czcs, distribution, imagery, nimbus-7, ocean, phytoplankton, plankton, space, zone