In the summer of 2001, however, there were short bursts of higher productivity not seen in other years. This unusual pattern may have been an early indicator of how the Gulf of Panama changed before the moderate El Nino event that occurred in 2002-2003.
The second tutorial investigated seasonal patterns of productivity in the Red Sea. There were two seasonal patterns in the Red Sea, one in the north and another in the south. Though these patterns are familiar to oceanographers, Giovanni provided another surprise. "I saw a very small area of relatively high chlorophyll concentrations near the Egyptian coast," Acker said. "At first it looked like a small river was entering the Red Sea. But there aren't any rivers in this part of the desert." Further investigation indicated that this area was associated with a large coral reef complex on the Red Sea coast. A third tutorial examines the California coast near Monterey Bay, and discusses the influence of clouds on the data.
In the past, researchers had to download data files and analyze them on their own computing systems, a difficult and time-consuming process. Giovanni is one of the first demonstrations of new technology that will be improved in the future, making it much easier to use the data, including the multi-decade data sets that the Ocean Color Time-Series Project will create.
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Contact: Cynthia O'Carroll
cynthia.m.ocarroll@nasa.gov
301-614-5563
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
14-Dec-2004