oceanspace

Imagine you could take a picture of a tree at the same time every single day. Over the course of a year, what would it look like? It would be green in summer and bare in winter (if your tree is in a place that has seasons). In the ocean, there are microscopic algae floating around with the waters’ currents. These aquatic photosynthesizers are drifters, unlike the leaves on a tree that are fixed in place.

Now imagine you can take a picture of the same place every day, but this time you pick a spot on the ocean. What would you see? You might see greener waters in the spring and summer when there’s more algae, and bluer water in the winter when there’s less algae. This is what ocean color satellites are monitoring. My alias is inspired by my academic research in studying the oceans from space.