Ocean Color Image Gallery

Benguela Ecosystem

Nutrients upwelled from below and dust drifting down from above result in fertile waters along the South Atlantic African coastline where the Benguela Current flows northward. Add ample amounts of sunlight — as in the above Aqua/MODIS image from 5 July 2018 — and you get a lot of phytoplankton growth supporting the rest of this highly productive ecosystem which remains the focus of ongoing research.