Average chlorophyll concentration in the surface ocean (from mi-September 1997 to August 2007) from the ocean color sensor SeaWiFS (NASA). Subtropical gyres, in the center of the oceanic basins, are characterized by very low concentrations of chlorophyll a (dark blue) - Source : NASA's Earth Observatory (http:/earthobservatory.nasa.gov)
Profiling float (Photo : David Luquet)
Sea Urchin - Planktonic Origins
Barely visible to the naked eye, sea urchin larvae grow and transform into bottom-dwelling urchins.
Dinoflagellate Ceratium ranipes grd mains (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Foraminifera Ruber (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Dinoflagellate Ceratium macroceros var macroceros (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Colony of dinoflagellates Ceratium hexacanthum. In the video, one can observe the movement of the flagella. (Video : Sophie Marro)
Mollusk (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Coccolithophore (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Diatom genus Cylindrotheca (Photo : Sophie Marro)
Velella - Planktonic Vessels
Colonies of polyps transported by prevailing winds, velella drift at the surface of warm seas.
Drifting profiling floats in the Atlantic
Plankton
Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents.Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton.
Gelatinous plankton salpes and Beroe (Photo : Fabien Lombard)
Large rosette sampler used in the "World Ocean Circulation Experiment". This rosette has 36 10-liter Niskin bottles, an acoustic pinger (lower left), an "LADCP" current profiler (yellow long tube at the center), a CTD (horizontal instrument at the bottom), and transmissometer (yellow short tube at the center). (Photo : L. Talley)
