Chlorophyll (PACE, same-day)
How green the water is, straight from NASA's PACE satellite and on the map the same afternoon — about two days ahead of the other colour layers. Cloudy areas are left blank.
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. A pass is on the map about two and a half hours after the satellite went over, and sometimes more than three. RipIQ puts each pass on the map itself, from the data NASA publishes.
The satellite passes between late morning and mid afternoon local time, so today's picture is normally there by late afternoon.
Cloud, sun glare and the edge of the satellite's track leave blanks, and nothing is filled in. The satellite sees a given spot about every two days. The layer covers the Gulf of America, the East Coast and Baja.
Use it for a fresh look at where green water meets blue, reading the pattern and the edges, not the exact number. Each measurement is about half a nautical mile (1 km) across.
How it relates to the other chlorophyll layers. Chlorophyll (Sentinel-3, same-day) is another single pass, from different satellites at a different time of day, and sharper, so check both. Chlorophyll (OLCI ~600m) is a sharper next-day picture that exists 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 satellite passes; one combined picture per day on the map |
| How fresh it usually is | About 2 and a half hours after the satellite passes, and sometimes more than three |
| How detailed it is | About half a nautical mile (1 km) per measurement |
| 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 from the data NASA publishes. 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 NASA's PACE satellite.