Polarimetry Data (HARP) and PACE orbit

  • Released Thursday, December 7, 2023
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This visualization begins with a view of several HARP sample data swaths depicting total radiance and polarized radiance with feature callouts. The camera then pulls back to reveal the PACE spacecraft orbit HARP2 instrument swath (shown in orange).

PACE is NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission, currently in the design phase of mission development. It is scheduled to launch in 2024, extending and improving NASA's over 20-year record of satellite observations of global ocean biology, aerosols (tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere), and clouds.

HARP2 (Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2) is a wide angle imaging polarimeter designed to measure aerosol particles and clouds, as well as properties of land and water surfaces. The amount and type of particles in suspension in the atmosphere are relevant to applications pertaining to health effects, cloud life cycle and precipitation, climate, etc. HARP2 will combine data from multiple along track viewing angles (up to 60), four spectral bands in the visible and near infrared ranges, and three angles of linear polarization to measure the microphysical properties of the atmospheric particles including their size distribution, amount, refractive indices and particle shape.

A still image of PACE's orbit and the HARP2 instrument data swath (shown in orange).

A still image of PACE's orbit and the HARP2 instrument data swath (shown in orange).

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, December 7, 2023.
This page was last updated on Thursday, October 19, 2023 at 5:07 PM EDT.