Photosynthetic pigments by land and sea

Changing colors across land and ocean are revealed as autumn comes to North America. As chlorophyll begins to cede its dominance to other pigments in the photosynthetic process, yellow and orange tones are revealed. Meanwhile, in the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton pigments highlight different water masses and current systems.
October 25, 2017
CreditNorman Kuring, Goddard Space Flight Center
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Autumn has once again come to eastern North America and, on land, chlorophyll begins to cede its dominance to other pigments in the photosynthetic process, thereby revealing their yellow and orange tones. Meanwhile, in the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton pigments highlight different water masses and current systems.

This image was collected by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite on Oct. 20, 2017. The area shown includes Thunder Bay, Canada, at the top; the Great Lakes; the U.S. East Coast down to Florida.