PACE - First Look at OCI, HARP2, and SPEXone data

  • Released Friday, April 19, 2024
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This visualization begins with a view of the PACE spacecraft orbiting Earth. A swath of true color imagery is exposed as the spacecraft passes over each location. The camera then zooms into the southeastern coast of the US, revealing several data layers from the PACE science instruments, including chlorophyll, a phytoplankton community map (Picoeukaryotes, Prochlorococcus, and Synechococcus), and aerosols.

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft was specifically designed to study the invisible universe of Earth’s sea and sky from the vantage point of space. We’ve measured 4-6 colors of the rainbow for decades, which has enabled us to “see” phytoplankton from space through the lens of its primary photosynthetic pigment, chlorophyll-a. PACE’s primary instrument is the first of its kind to measure all the colors of the rainbow, every day, everywhere. That means we can identify the type of phytoplankton behind the chlorophyll-a. Different types of phytoplankton have different effects on the food web, on water management, and on the climate, via their impact on the carbon cycle.

PACE is also designed to see the invisible world of our atmosphere by measuring microscopic particles known as aerosols. It uses two instruments for that purpose. HARP2 looks through the atmosphere and can tell us what types of aerosols are in the air. In this visualization, the darker brown areas indicate smoke from some uncommon fires in the Southeast. SPEXOne is another polarimeter instrument, but it covers a narrower swath and measures the size of aerosols. That particularly helps us understand how they reflect or absorb solar radiation, which is one of the most important remaining mysteries in climate science.

This is part 1 of the full visualization described above, ending just after the camera zooms into the southeastern coast of the US.

This is part 2 of the full visualization described above, beginning just after the camera zooms into the southeastern coast of the US.

This visualization begins with a view of the PACE spacecraft orbiting Earth. A swath of true color imagery is exposed as the spacecraft passes over each location. The camera then zooms into the southeastern coast of the US, revealing several data layers from the PACE science instruments, including chlorophyll, a phytoplankton community map (Picoeukaryotes, Prochlorococcus, and Synechococcus), and aerosols. This version has Spanish labels.

This is part 1 of the full visualization described above, ending just after the camera zooms into the southeastern coast of the US. This version has Spanish labels.

This is part 2 of the full visualization described above, beginning just after the camera zooms into the southeastern coast of the US. This version has Spanish labels.

Print resolution still image - PACE orbits the Earth, exposing a swath of true color imagery

Print resolution still image - PACE orbits the Earth, exposing a swath of true color imagery

Print resolution still image - Chlorophyll, as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument. Bright green and white represent areas of higher concentrations of Chlorophyll, while purples and dark blues are lower concentrations.

Print resolution still image - Chlorophyll, as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument. Bright green and white represent areas of higher concentrations of Chlorophyll, while purples and dark blues are lower concentrations.

Print resolution still image - Phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument

Print resolution still image - Phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Prochlorococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument

Print resolution still image - Phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument

Print resolution still image - Phytoplankton (Picoeukaryotes and Synechococcus), as observed by PACE’s OCI instrument

Print resolution still image - Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 instrument. Darker browns represent higher concentrations, such as the region of smoke indicated.

Print resolution still image - Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 instrument. Darker browns represent higher concentrations, such as the region of smoke indicated.

Print resolution still image - Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 and SPEXone instruments. In the HARP2 data (wider swath), darker browns represent higher concentrations, such as the region of smoke indicated. In the SPEXone data (narrow swath), darker reds represent coarse mode aerosols while lighter colors represent fine aerosols.

Print resolution still image - Aerosols, as observed by PACE’s HARP2 and SPEXone instruments. In the HARP2 data (wider swath), darker browns represent higher concentrations, such as the region of smoke indicated. In the SPEXone data (narrow swath), darker reds represent coarse mode aerosols while lighter colors represent fine aerosols.

Credits

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

This page was originally published on Friday, April 19, 2024.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at 12:46 PM EDT.

Datasets used

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