Eastern Canada - MERIS - 10 August 2002

This image features eastern Canada and three of its provinces. Quebec is in the top left corner. Part of Newfoundland is visible as the island partially covered by clouds in the top centre of the image. Part of Nova Scotia can be seen as well in the left part of the image. The most interesting feature present on this image is the large milky turquoise patch off the southern coast of Newfoundland. The colour of the water is due to the bloom of tiny algae called phytoplankton. This phytoplankton bloom was first observed by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on the 24th of July and followed by the instrument during its development until the 13th of August 2002.

Technical Information:

Instrument: MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS)

Date of Acquisition: 10 August 2002

Orbit number: 02326

Instrument features: Reduced Resolution image (1200-meter resolution)

MERIS was designed to measure the concentration of phytoplankton. The colours seen by MERIS indicate the concentration of chlorophyll, the pigment that phytoplankton use for photosynthesis. MERIS can detect chlorophyll concentrations as low as 0.01 microgram, or 1/100 000 000 of a gram, per litre. MERIS data will be used to monitor the worldwide distribution of phytoplankton and to compute primary production.