Scientists use the global biosphere measurements to study the planet's net primary productivity – the amount of carbon that plants use to grow. As carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, scientists can study how much is offset by the global biosphere.

The NASA images were created using ocean chlorophyll data collected by NOAA satellites through the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project, as well as vegetation data from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center