Ocean Color Image Gallery

Canary Upwelling System

One of Earth's four major eastern boundary upwelling systems, the Canary Upwelling System exports phytoplankton-fixed carbon hundreds of kilometers into the North Atlantic Ocean via Ekman transport and mesoscale filaments and eddies that are generated when the North Atlantic's eastern boundary current flows past the complex coastal topography of Northwest Africa.

The above image comprises data collected during two orbits of the Suomi-NPP/VIIRS instrument on December 10, 2018. Click on it to get a larger version.