Chlorophyll (Sentinel-3, same-day)
The freshest and sharpest colour picture we have — a single Sentinel-3 pass, on the map within about two hours. One pass only, so expect gaps, and cloud is left blank rather than filled.
Updates daily
More detail
This layer shows chlorophyll, the green pigment in plankton, at the surface. Low numbers are clear blue water, and high numbers are green water. The chlorophyll data comes from the European Union's Copernicus program, from the OLCI camera on its two Sentinel-3 satellites, and RipIQ puts each pass on the map itself. Each pixel is about 300 meters across, about 1,000 feet, the finest detail of the chlorophyll layers.
The Sentinel-3 satellites pass in the late morning, so today's picture is normally there by late afternoon.
Cloud, land and the edge of the satellite's track all leave blanks, and nothing is filled in. Even in clear weather a given spot is not seen every day. The layer covers the Gulf of America, the East Coast and Baja.
Use it for the freshest, finest look at a color edge when the sky was clear over your water.
How it relates to the other chlorophyll layers. Chlorophyll (PACE, same-day) is another single pass, from a different satellite at a different time of day, so check both. Chlorophyll (OLCI ~600m) is the same camera tidied into a next-day picture, only within about 108 nautical miles of a coast. Chlorophyll (GlobColour) is the complete daily picture, with the cloud holes filled in by estimate. Use Chlorophyll (GlobColour) for a complete picture, Chlorophyll (OLCI ~600m) for a sharp look near the coast, and the two same-day layers to see only what was seen today. The four do not agree exactly. All four share one color scale. Chlorophyll Concentration is a computer model's estimate, not a satellite picture, and will not match them.
The numbers
| How often it updates | As the satellites pass; one combined picture per day on the map |
| How fresh it usually is | About 2 hours after the satellite passes |
| How detailed it is | About 300 meters per pixel (about 1,000 feet) |
| Where it covers | Gulf of America, East Coast and Baja |
| How far back you can look | 8 days back |
| Goes blank under cloud? | Yes, often |
| Observed or modeled | Observed, and put on the map by RipIQ. Nothing is filled in |
| What you see on screen | mg/m^3, the amount of chlorophyll in the water. The default color range is 0.03 to 1.0. Surface only |
Source: a satellite picture from the Sentinel-3 OLCI satellites.