ESA Imagery

The following are a series of chlorophyll-a images of the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands region. Images provided by Globcolour, part of European Space Agency^info

ENVISAT, the vehicle carrying MERIS (the medium-spectral resolution, imaging spectrometer) ceased transmission on April 8 2012 after 10 years of operation. Officials of the European Space Agency (ESA) note that the satellite remains in stable orbit and ESA continues trying to re-established communications. If communication is not re-established, this high resolution imagery will be unavailable until launch of GMES Sentinel , the replacement vehicle in 2013.

Data from the NASA MODIS (moderate-resolutioin imaging spectroradiometer) sensor continues to be available.

Note: 4 day averages are usually available most of the time, single day images are not always available due to cloud coverage or other conditions that block the readings from taking place. This applies for both chlorophyll and KD490 imagery.

Regional 4 day average	Regional daily measurement
PR 4 day average	PR daily measurement

The following images are of the diffuse attenuation coefficient KD490, a measurement of light penetration in the water, it can be used as an approximation to determine visibility and water transparency. Images also provided by Globcolour, part of European Space Agency^info

Regional 4 day average	Regional daily measurement
PR 4 day average	PR daily measurement

GlobColour has been initiated and funded by the ESA Data User Element Programme to develop a satellite based ocean colour data service to support global carbon-cycle research. GlobColour is the initial version of the Global Ocean Colour TAC (Thematic Assembly Centre), part of the European project MyOcean. The GlobColour products have undergone an extensive validation based on a validation protocol derived from the SIMBIOS protocol. The GlobColour products have been derived with the GSM model and algorithm, developed by ICESS (Maritorena S. and D.A. Siegel. 2005). The GlobColour project has largely benefited from NASA contributions, including the availability of the MODIS and SeaWiFS products; the in situ data base of radiometric and phytoplankton pigment data, and other oceanographic and atmospheric data: the SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System SeaBASS (Werdell and Bailey, 2002). Contact: service@globcolour

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