The document compares a true-color image and false-color image from SeaWiFS of the same phytoplankton bloom in the Bering Sea on June 15th and 16th, 2000. The true-color image shows the actual ocean colors which indicate different types and quantities of phytoplankton, but does not provide information on exact quantities or carbon uptake. The false-color image uses chlorophyll data from SeaWiFS instruments to simulate phytoplankton concentrations, providing more information on biomass and carbon fixation than the true-color image.

1. Compare and contrast the two images and record your responses below.
from the atmosphere by phytoplankton and moved into the oceanic biological pump.
Visualizations of ocean color can come in two formats: true-color (natural) images and falsecolor
images. Consider the two images of the same phytoplankton bloom in the Bering Sea taken by
SeaWiFS on June 15th and 16th, 2000. - The top image is a true-color image. The various ocean
colors indicate the presence of different types and quantities of phytoplankton. For example, a
milky white color indicates the presence of coccolithophores. Although the true color image
gives a sense of how big the bloom is, it does not provide much information about the exact
quantity of phytoplankton or how much carbon is taken in through photosynthesis. - The bottom
image is a simulated, mathematically reconstructed "false-color" image using chlorophyll data
measured by instruments on the SeaWiFS satellite. Note: Other data from shipboard in situ
measurements may be incorporated into these false-color images.