Research has also shown that picoeukaryotes have a strong correlation with chlorophyll concentrations in both meso-autotrophic reservoirs and hypereutrophic reservoirs.

Typical examples include the Leaf Area Index, biomass, chlorophyll concentration in leaves, plant productivity, fractional vegetation cover, accumulated rainfall, etc.

These measurements were used to map chlorophyll concentration in water, sediment distribution, salinity, and the temperature of coastal waters and ocean currents.

Chlorophyll content can be detected with a Chlorophyll content meter; a portable instrument that measures the greenness of leaves to estimate their relative chlorophyll concentration.

The cold water and high chlorophyll concentration are signatures of mixing and upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich deep water.

Additionally, sharp gradients in nutrients (nutricline) and oxygen (oxycline) and a maximum in chlorophyll concentration are often co-located with the base of the seasonal mixed layer.

Places where chlorophyll concentrations were high, meaning many phytoplankton were growing, are yellow.

In the ocean, high chlorophyll concentrations are concentrated in areas where tiny, plant-like organisms (phytoplankton) thrive.

The highest chlorophyll concentrations are in cold polar waters or in places where ocean currents bring cold water to the surface, such as around the equator and along the shores of continents.

Impacts associated with the filtration of water include increases in water transparency, decreases in mean chlorophyll concentrations, and accumulation of pseudofeces.