A catalog of NASA images and animations of our home planet

• Credit:

  Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,

MODIS provides the unprecedented ability to measure chlorophyll fluorescence, which gives insight into the health of phytoplankton in the ocean. When phytoplankton are under stress, they no longer photosynthesize and begin to emit absorbed sunlight as fluorescence. This image taken over the Arabian Sea shows a ratio of chlorophyll to fluorescence which provides information on the degree of photosynthetic activity occurring (blue shows higher photosynthesis).

Images & Animations

• Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
• NASA Official: Steven E. Platnick
• Database Updated: June 20, 2013