An instrument (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) carried on NASA’s SeaStar spacecraft that was launched on 1 August 1997 into a Sun-synchronous orbit at a height of about 700 km. It orbited the Earth in 99 minutes, observing a swathe 2800 km wide. SeaWiFS monitored the colour of the ocean surface, providing data from which the concentration and movement of phytoplankton (see plankton) could be calculated. The mission ended on 11 December 2010.

https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/ SeaWiFS Project.