Theme 1: Ocean Colour

What is ocean colour? For some it's simply the ever-changing colour of the sea; for Earth Scientists it means studying the ocean from satellites that measure visible light. We have divided the subject into four areas:

Light and colour in the ocean:   What light is, how colours are created, and what they tell us about the water.   To understand this topic, you need to know something about electromagnetic waves, so we have included this in 'E-quations' - the science background section of the website.

Plant life in the ocean:   Why the most important use for ocean colour is the study of marine plants.   As it happens ocean colour is closely linked to photosynthesis by plants, so we this is another topic we have included in 'E-quations'

Why measure it?   Some practical and scientific uses for ocean colour measurements.   Marine plants carry out as much photosynthesis as land plants, so understanding their role in the global carbon cycle is necessary in order to understand climate change.

Ocean colour satellites:   How ocean colour is measured from space, and what must be done to get useful information from the measurements.