Ocean Life
Chlorophyll blooms show where the ocean is most alive — the invisible pastures that feed the sea.
Drag to spin — this is what yours looks like folded.
About this globe
Chlorophyll concentration measured from ocean color — a map of phytoplankton, the microscopic plants at the base of the entire marine food web. Bright areas are the ocean's pastures.
The richest water is rarely in the tropics: look to the cold high latitudes and the upwelling zones off Peru and West Africa.
How the data was captured
MODIS on NASA's Aqua satellite measures the exact color of seawater; chlorophyll tints water green, so color alone reveals how much phytoplankton is blooming beneath the surface.
Download free — pick your paper size
Print at 100% scale. Cut along solid lines, fold along dashed lines, glue the tabs. Your PDF can take up to a minute to prepare — hang tight after clicking.
In the US? Print the A4 file and choose “fit to page” — it scales cleanly onto Letter paper.
Sharing this globe?
Free for personal use, classrooms, and gifts — not for resale. If you post it on your site or share it online, please credit Folding Globes with a link. Copy-paste blurb:
"Ocean Life" folding paper globe — free from Folding Globes, https://foldingglobes.com/globes/ocean-life · Data: NASA Earth Observations (chlorophyll)
Make it yours
Every paid shape also lets you pin your own places on the map.