Some satellites in space can spot the movement of fish.
A satellite called NOAA-6 is scanning the waters of the Pacific Ocean from Baja, California, to Alaska with some very special equipment. These special devices are able to “see” cold patches of ocean water.
These patches are caused by the rise of cold currents, or upswells, from the ocean depths. With these upswells come masses of plankton, the microscopic mass of plant and animal life that many fish depend on for food.
In addition to finding the upswells, NOAA-6 tracks their movement as they are blown from one area to another by winds. All this information is sent to fishermen, because where there is plankton, there are fish eating it.
NASA, which developed the satellite, is planning a new system that will be even more accurate in spotting plankton. It will be able to spot the presence of green ocean water.
Green is the color of chlorophyll, and where there is chlorophyll, there are plants, and where there are plants, there is plankton eager to eat it, and where there is plankton, there are fish.
NASA is planning to build one of these new systems for the fishermen of the Atlantic Ocean.
