USING SATELLITES TO HELP MONITOR
HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS
NASA’s SeaStar spacecraft, launched in 1997, carries an instrument called the Seaviewing
Wide Field of View Sensor or “Sea-WiFS.” SeaWiFs measures ocean color,
which can help scientists identify harmful algal blooms and other high concentrations of
material on the sea’s surface. Ocean color observations made from Earth’s orbit provide
a viewpoint impossible from ship or shore.