GeoXO - OCX

One of the most significant new features of GeoXO will be the groundbreaking Ocean Color Instrument (OCX), which is specifically engineered to observe aquatic conditions related to assessing ocean productivity, ecosystem change, coastal and inland water quality, seafood safety, and hazards like harmful algal blooms. Unique to OCX is its superior spatial resolution, exceeding 300 meters of Ground Sampling Distance, and its high temporal resolution, enabling observations at least every two hours during daylight. OCX is also a specialized “hyperspectral” instrument, which means that it can better distinguish hazards such as marine pollution or harmful algal blooms to help improve forecast systems. This instrument configuration solves a series of ubiquitous problems faced in remote sensing, enabling us to see around pervasive cloud cover, adequately resolve dynamic coastal features, and provide better information about the composition of the water. A constant gaze over the 3.4 million square nautical miles of the U.S. EEZ will provide consistent, hyperspectral data at a high cadence that, working around clouds, finally gets us the right data for ecosystem science to support coastal management.