The vibrant aquamarine-coloured swirls of a plankton bloom decorate the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean just off the shores of the Republic of Namibia in this Envisat image.

MERIS's primary objective is to provide quantitative ocean-colour measurements, but the sensor has enough flexibility to serve applications in atmospheric and land-surface science as well.

This 6 November 2007 image was acquired by MERIS while working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres.