Satellite Eye for Galathea 3

Algae concentration in the sea around Greenland for the period 1. – 6. September, 2006.

The image is part of the project Satellite Eye for Galathea 3 from which you can see satellite images, or more precisely, maps of algae along the entire route while the ship is sailing along. Other types of maps are also available. See the running project: Algae – Seen from Space at http://galathea3.emu.dk

What can you see?

In general, low concentration of algae (several blue shadings) is seen. However, at a few places small algae blooms (in grean and yellow) are seen, including near Canada (the Hudson Strait and New Foundland), outside some of the fjords in Western Greenland and outside Angmagssalik in Eastern Greenland.

The algae maps are produced using a complicated mathematical-physical model that is analyzing the color of the ocean very accurately, and is based on the fact that the chlorophyll in algae absorbs sunlight, and thus causes a smaller reflection in particular in the blue and red colors, than would have occurred without the presence of algae.

Technical information:

The area around Greenland is usually covered by clouds. Therefore the algae map is a mosaic composed of daily images for the period 1. – 6. September 2006. The data are from the MERIS instrument onboard the ENVISAT satellite that orbits Earth at an altitude around 800 km. The data are excellent for obtaining an overview of large regions, and the spatial image resolution (pixel) is 1 x 1 km.

It is possible to produce similar ‘cloudfree’ images in Google Earth for the area in which the ship is sailing, and also to see maps from other areas.

http://galathea.oersted.dtu.dk/GE.html