Ocean Color Images: Categories

This gallery includes recent ocean color images created by the Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. OBPG's responsibilities include the collection, processing, calibration, validation, archive and distribution of ocean-related products from a large number of operational, satellite-based remote-sensing missions. These missions have been providing ocean color data to the international research community since 1996.

Click on the thumbnails to view higher resolution images on NASA's OceanColor Web. Use the buttons to filter by category.

SHOW ALL ALGAL BLOOMS AIRBORNE PARTICULATES ATLANTIC OCEAN CARBON & CLIMATE CHLOROPHYLL CLOUDS COASTAL WATERBODIES CONTINENTAL WATERBODIES CURRENTS EUPHOTIC ZONE FLOWS ICE HUMAN IMPACTS INDIAN OCEAN LANDSAT MARINE LIFE MODIS & VIIRS OTHER SENSORS PACIFIC OCEAN PHYTOPLANKTON PHYTO TYPES POLAR OCEANS SEAS & BASINS SEVERE WEATHER SHALLOW & BOTTOM SLICKS & FILMS SUN GLINT TIDES TURBIDITY WINDS & WAVES

Musa Bay

Drifting Behemoth

Sediment Runoff in the Rio Grande Anchorage

Wildfire Smoke in a Cyclone

Greenland Still Melting

Lancaster Sound in Nunavut

Let the Sunshine In

Fire and Ice

Mozambique Channel Eddies

Grey River Delta & the Rowley Shoals

Burdekin River

Scenic South Africa

Shallow Lake Erie

Frisian Frills

Bikini Atoll Under Threat

Smoke on Blue Waters

Katabatic Winds on Glaciers

Noctiluca Bloom in the Arabian Sea

Bay of Arguin

Protist Poetry

South Pacific Ocean Around New Zealand

Florida After Hurricane Ian

Lake Pontchartrain

Strait of Tartary

Pacific Northwest

Abershon Peninsula

Maumee River Outflow

Clear View of the Hudson Bay Basin

Sunny Saturday in New England

Modified Coastlines in the Persian Gulf

Black Sea

Queen Maud Gulf

Yukon Delta

Bering Sea/Alaskan Aleutian Islands

Benguela Current

Still Going After 22 Years

Springtime in South Korea

Central Vietnam Coast and Internal Waves

Green West Ireland

Irbe Strait

Noctiluca Bloom in the Arabian Sea

Danube River Delta

Western Mediterranean Sea

Southeastern Caspian Sea

Dust Over the Arabian Sea

Brazil-Malvinas Confluence

Ha Long Bay

Phytoplankton Blooms Around Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island

Reddish Bloom in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Manitoba Lakes

World Map of Chlorophyll-a

Signs of Humanity in the South China Sea

Salton Sea

From Laminar to Turbulent

U.S. West Coast

Nutrients From Below and From Above

Rio de la Plata

Northwestern Australia

Antarctic Peninsula and South Shetland Islands

Mesopotamia

Mackenzie River Delta

Amur River

Tibetan Lakes

Kolyma Gulf

Great Salt Lake

Russian Smoke

Barents Sea

Tokyo

Lena River Delta

Svenskøya

P'yagin Peninsula

Productive Bering Sea

Two New Zealand Peninsulas

Kamchatka Eddies

Sounds of the Sea - Kamchatka Peninsula

EXPORTS in the Atlantic

Kirov Islands in Ice

Central Queensland Coast

Japan and the Turbulent Sea

Península Valdés

Southern Yellow Sea

Springtime in the Northwest Atlantic

Lake Erie

Gulf of Oman

South Korean Aquaculture

Garabogazköl

Paraguaná Peninsula

Central American Upwelling

Arabian Sea

Southwestern South Atlantic Ocean

Leizhou Peninsula Ocean Patterns

Eastern Black Sea

Western Arabian Sea

Adriatic Sea

Elephant Island

An Island, An Iceberg, and Phytoplankton

Caspian Textures

Typhoon Ulysses Aftereffects

Yellow River Mouth

Laurentian Great Lakes

Lunar Currents

Northern Bering Sea

Eddies in the Strait of Hormuz

Gulf of Oman

Agulhas Retroreflection

Carolina Tea

New Zealand

Queensland’s Sea Sawdust

Laptev Sea

Yangtze River Mouth

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Iceland

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Triad of Cyclones

Barents Sea

East Siberian Sea

Dust and Smoke from SW Africa

Persistent NW Atlantic Bloom

Cook Inlet

Brown Ice in Foxe Basin

Denmark Strait

Southwestern England

Norwegian Sea

20-year-old Sensor Views Benguela Upwelling

Chuckchi Sea

Laptev Sea Ice

Western Alaska

Flood Runoff in Saginaw Bay

Labrador Sea Ice

Volga River Delta

The North Sea

Western Black Sea

Europe

The Kattegat

Gulf of Oman

Western Gulf of St. Lawrence

Southern Benguela Upwelling

Western Mediterranean

Kura River Plume

Northern Indian Ocean

Copper River Wind

Chatham Rise

Cape Cod

Western North Atlantic

Pearl River Estuary

Northwestern Channel Islands

Under a Winter Dust Cover

South Atlantic Summer Bloom

Science by the Ocean

Northern Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf

Primary Producers in the South Atlantic

Iran Flood Runoff

Cloudy Pacific Ocean

Internal Waves in the Andaman Sea

US East Coast Estuaries

Spring in the SW South Atlantic Ocean

Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

Tasman Sea

Between Queensland and the Reef

Gulf of California

Australian Dust

Gulf of Oman

Indian Ocean Spring

Solway Firth

Central California Coastal Bloom

Central California Coastal Bloom

Northeastern Europe

Bay of Fundy

Beaufort Sea Swirls

Hurricane Dorian Sediment Transport

Northern Caspian Sea

Capricorn Channel

Greenland is Melting

Greenland Loses Mass. Phytoplankton Bloom

SW Pacific Phytoplankton

Capricorn Channel

Northwest Passages

Blooming Baltic

The Yenisei

Afro-Eurasia

Guanabara

Kolyma River Mouth

North Atlantic Spring Bloom

Surface Aggregations off Nova Scotia

Northwest North Atlantic

Ilhabela

Davis Strait and Western Greenland

Western Bering Sea

Benguela Upwelling Ecosystem

Western Lake Superior

NW Atlantic Ocean

NW Arabian Sea

Spring in the Gulf of Bothnia

Lake Khanka

Bay of Biscay

Submesocale Variability in the Bay of Biscay

Lake St. Clair

NE Pacific Ocean

Crozet Islands

Tasman Sea Eddy Pair

Noctiluca scintillans in the Gulf of Oman

Australasia

Burdekin River Floodwaters

Summer Phytoplankton Communities around Patagonia

Winter Blooms in the Black Sea

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Albemarie Sound

US Gulf Coast

Algal Slicks in the Persian Gulf

Canary Upwelling System

Drake Passage

Ribbon-like Feature off Santa Barbara County

Western South Atlantic

Arabian Sea

Spring Blooms around SE Australia

California Smoke Over Pacific

Blooms Around the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands

Arabian Sea

Patagonian Phytoplankton

Tasman Sea Chlorophyll

Hurricane Michael Colors the Gulf

Unusual Chlorophyll Pattern Off New Zealand

Tropical Cyclones

Central California Coast

Typhoon Trami

Carolina Coastal Runoff

Carolina CDOM

Bohai Bay

Gulf of Alaska and Station Papa

North Carolina After Florence

Turbidity in the Sea of Azov

Capricorn Channel Blooms

Southern Kamchatka

Lakes Erie and Ontario

Capricorn Channel Blooms

Gulf of Alaska

Danube Delta

Pacific Northwest

Laptev Sea

In Port for EXPORTS

Baltic Cyanobacteria

Hawke Bay, New Zealand

Waiting for the Curtain

Adriatic Sea

Cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea

Obskaya Guba

Lake Okeechobee Algal Bloom

Benguela Ecosystem

Western Europe

Different Seas, Different Ecosystems

Southern Chukchi Sea

Bering Sea Green Belt

Suspended Sediment in the Bering Sea

Cabo Dos Bahias

Fall Blooms off the Queensland Coast

Celtic Phytoplankton

Lagos dos Patos

Fujairah Offshore Anchorage

North Sea Blooms

Phytoplankton Around the Kamchatka Peninsula

Cape Cod Sun Glint

Western North Atlantic

North Central Mediterranean Sea

Early Spring in the NW Atlantic

Les Iles de la Madeleine

Algal Slicks off the Omani Coast

French Whitecaps

Clouds Over the North Atlantic

Western South Atlantic

NE Pacific during 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting

Gulf of Aden

Phytoplankton off the Mawson Coast

Agulhas & Benguela

Phytoplankton in the Alboran Sea

Peering through Haze: Arabian Sea

Arabian Sea in Bloom

Eddies in the Eastern South Atlantic

Winter Storm Grayson

Northern Arabian Sea Blooms

Gulf of Oman Blooms

First Light Imagery from VIIRS on NOAA20

Springtime around Tasmania

Glacial Dust Over Gulf of Alaska

Ebro Delta Plume

Patagonian Sea

SE United States Coast

Lazio, Italy

Photosynthetic Pigments by Land and Sea

Gulf of Oman & Arabian Sea

Fall Colors Off the West Coast

Florida / Georgia Runoff from Hurricane Irma

Irma and Jose

Benguela Upwelling Ecosystem

Harvey Runoff

Caspian Sea Phytoplankton Bloom

Caspian Sea

Difficulty of Ocean Color Remote Sensing

Yukon River Delta

Mackenzie River Outflow

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Hudson Bay

Norwegian Sea

The Black Sea

East China Sea

Eastern North Atlantic Spring Bloom

Sea of Okhotsk

Lake Skadar

Gulf of Alaska

Benguela Upwelling

Chinese Aquaculture

The Strait of Gibraltar

Wind-Driven Turbidity

Southern Ocean Phytoplankton Blooms

Southern Central Chilean Coast

Lake Apopka

Tasman Sea

NW Arabian Sea

Southern Indian Ocean

Mar Argentino Phytoplankton

Gulf Stream Eddies and the Gulf of Maine

Great Australian Bight

NW Atlantic Ocean

South Island Runoff into the Tasman Sea

Laptev Sea Sediment Swirls

Bering and Chukchi Seas

Bohai Bay

Australian Dust Export

Greenland

Sun Glint

Labrador Sea

Gulf of Alaska

East Siberian Sea

North Sea

Chlorophyll Concentrations over The Grand Banks

Fram Strait

Ice Gouges in the Caspian Sea

Pacific Northwest

Patagonian Sea

Turbulent North Atlantic

Springtime on the Grand Banks

California Current System

Winter Blooms in the Arabian Sea

Gulf of Oman

Eastern US Blizzard 2016

Midwest Soils to Gulf of Mexico

Oxygen Factories

Microscopic Particles in the Air and Water

CDOM Enters the Chesapeake

No, it’s not Ocean Color, but...

Kerguelen Islands

Springtime in the South Atlantic

Low-chlorophyll Features

After the Storms

New Zealand

New Zealand

NAAMES

North of the Gulf Stream

SW Atlantic

Middle Eastern Dust Cyclone

Norwegian Sea

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Labrador Sea

Barents Sea

Bering and Chukchi Seas

The Bering Strait

Mid June in the North Atlantic

Gulf of Maine

Alaskan Phytoplankton

NE Atlantic Spring Bloom

Spring Bloom in the Bay of Biscay

Why Ocean Color from Space?

Spring Blooms in the Baltic

Sea of Azov and Black Sea

Productive Benguela Current

Yellow Sea

English Channel and North Sea

Arabian Sea Winter Blooms

Patchiness of Ocean Color

Mississippi River Plume

New Zealand

Eddies in the Southern Ocean

Trichodesmium in Melanesia

Springtime East of Patagonia

Reprocessed VIIRS Data

Turbulent Bering Sea

Phytoplankton off the US West Coast

Ocean Optics XXII

Pacific Northwest

Massive Red Tide Approaching Florida

Chlorophyll as a Current Tracer

Baltic Sea Cyanobacteria

Barents Sea Bloom Transition

African Dust Heads to South America

SST and Chlorophyll

Spring Bloom in the North Atlantic

South Pacific Bio-optics Cruise

Gulf of Alaska

Benguela Current Features

Andaman Sea Waves

Dark Water Off Brazil

Southeastern Atlantic Color

What Just Happened in Micronesia?

Chilean Phytoplankton Bloom

Different Wavelengths

Out of Africa

Phytoplankton in the Sea of Okhotsk

Blooms Around Kamchatka

Phytoplankton in the Sea of Marmara

North Atlantic Spring Bloom

NW Pacific Spring Bloom

Thailand and Myanmar

Passage of Sandy

NW Atlantic Ocean

Northwest Passage

Black Sea

CDOM to the Kara Sea

VIIRS: 26 May 2012

The Great Lakes

Two Views from VIIRS

Northern Gulf of Mexico

Dust Over Baja California

10 Years of Chlorophyll in the NW Atlantic

Aerosols Around the United Kingdom