Ross Sea : Future world's largest marine protected area

Sentinel-3 OLCI FR acquired on 15 January 2017 at 17:55:13 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI (1 tile) acquired on 15 January 2017 at 20:25:11 UTC
Sentinel-2 MSI (2 tiles) acquired on 16 January 2017 at 19:55:21 UTC
Author(s): Sentinel Vision team, VisioTerra, France - svp@visioterra.fr
Keyword(s): Ocean colour, bloom, phytoplankton, marine protected area, eddies, currents, Austral Ocean, Ross Sea, Antarctica
Fig. 1 - During summer, the Ross Sea is home to phytoplankton blooms, a staple food for higher trophic levels such as krill, whales and seals.
3D view
According to the BBC, "The Ross Sea, its shelf and slope only comprise 2% of the Southern Ocean but they are home to 38% of the world's Adelie penguins, 30% of the world's Antarctic petrels and around 6% of the world's population of Antarctic minke whales. The region is important to the rest of the planet as the upwelling of nutrients from the deep waters are carried on currents around the world."
Fig. 2 - Sentinel 3A - huge phytoplankton bloom in the Ross Sea during austral summer, Antarctica - 7,6,4 Colour composite.
3D view
Fig. 3 - Sentinel 2A - Phytoplankton colour highlighting eddies in sea surface currents - 4,3,2 Natural colour composite.
3D view
Fig. 4 - Numerous ocean colours seen by Sentinel-2A satellite.
3D view
The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency or the European Union.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024, processed by VisioTerra.
More on European Commission space:
More on ESA: S-1 website S-2 website S-3 website
More on Copernicus program: Scihub portal Cophub portal Inthub portal Colhub portal
More on VisioTerra: Sentinel Vision Portal Envisat+ERS portal Swarm+GOCE portal CryoSat portal