Our research evaluated the conditions of California’s coastal sea surface temperature and ocean color between the years of 2002 to 2017 to understand the temporal and spatial variations and trends in California coastal regions. Sea surface temperature (SST) is heavily influential to climate changes and natural disasters whereas ocean color signifies the health of the ocean and marine animals living conditions. For the past fifteen years, California’s coast has been documented as having a tremendous growth with phytoplankton with high concentrations of chlorophyll filaments flowing from the southwestern direction of the Pacific Ocean which influences the ocean color. As Earth is ninety percent water, measuring sea surface temperature is critical to provide information about the interactions between the Pacific Ocean’s health and Earth’s atmosphere. We will use Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data from 2002 to 2017. Our study will help understand the variations of SST and ocean color, find the impacts of climate change in CA coast regions.
