Video Descriptions for Tracking Carbon from Wildfires to Ocean Blooms

Narration: Ryan Fitzgibbons

Transcript:

0:00 Drone footage of a massive forest fire along a mountainside at nighttime

0:06 Drone footage flying forward over a forest as giant plumes of smoke come out of the trees

0:12 Satellite image of a corner of Australia showing healthy forest in bright green and burned forest in dark red

0:16 Footage of a vast open ocean with lots of waves and a cloudy sky

0:19 Fullscreen graphic showing a map of the Southern Hemisphere with blobs of green indicating chlorophyll concentration to the east of Australia. A label reads “South Pacific Ocean” and the months and years progress from November 2019 through February 2020

0:26 A graphic circle encloses footage of the wildfire along forested cliffs. As the circle closes, the inset image moves to the left and a dotted line connects to another circle showing an algae bloom.

0:30 From the above graphic, a dotted line forms between the fire and algae circles and moves down to a third circle with an illustration of a tree along the coast of some water

0:33 In the same graphic, the circle expands to show a fullscreen animation of a cross-section of land and water with the label “Carbon Cycle.” On the left is a single tree on a slope with arrows moving upwards and downwards with labels “microbial respiration and decomposition,” “photosynthesis,” “plant biomass,” “plant respiration,” and “soil carbon.” On the right side is open water with many green cloudy dots indicating phytoplankton. Arrows circulate with labels reading “photosynthesis,” “respiration and decomposition,” “air-sea gas exchange,” and “ocean sediment.”

0:47 The animation flashes a bright orange transition to reveal a closer view of the land portion of the carbon cycle. The single tree shown in cross-section has a forest behind it. As the camera zooms in, carbon dioxide molecules in the air are shown to enter the tree’s leaves

0:54 The next animated scene shows a cross-section of a small leafy plant with the Sun and a carbon dioxide molecule with arrows indicating the flow toward the plant. Next the plant emits an oxygen molecule and a sugar cube, representing carbohydrates

1:02 Footage of a slow tilt up a very large tropical tree in a forest

1:08 Footage of deer eating grasses and other ground plants

1:13 Footage of a tilt up through a row of dead corn stalks

1:16 Drone footage of massive forest fire at nighttime

1:19 Drone footage flying forward over a forest as giant plumes of smoke come out of the trees

1:24 Animation showing a zoomed in view of the ocean part of the carbon cycle with the green dots indicating phytoplankton drifting around in a cloud near the ocean surface. Arrows from the Sun and a carbon dioxide molecule extend to the ocean surface.

1:29 In the same animation, four circles appear in the frame showing real images of phytoplankton. The circles drift out of frame and arrows extending from the phytoplankton form an oxygen molecule and a sugar cube

1:38 Underwater footage showing long kelp plants extending toward the ocean surface with sunlight peering through in the center of the frame

1:45 Animation of a cross-section of land and water with the label “Carbon Cycle.” On the left is a single tree on a slope with arrows moving upwards and downwards with labels “microbial respiration and decomposition,” “photosynthesis,” “plant biomass,” “plant respiration,” and “soil carbon.” On the right side is open water with many green cloudy dots indicating phytoplankton. Arrows circulate with labels reading “photosynthesis,” “respiration and decomposition,” “air-sea gas exchange,” and “ocean sediment.”

1:52 Close up timelapse footage of a leaf unfurling upward. Then three graphic overlays appear labeled “nitrogen,” “phosphorus,” and “iron,” with their respective atomic numbers.

2:02 Timelapse footage from the International Space Station showing the Earth as it approaches Australia

2:07 Footage of wildfires and giant smoke plumes over a forested mountainside

2:16 Drone footage looking downward at the open ocean with waves atop the surface

2:22 Visualization of the Southern Hemisphere showing multiple colored swirls of aerosols and clouds that drift across the screen in multiple directions

2:28 The same visualization now zoomed out to show the whole Earth in a flat projection. Multiple clouds and swirls of color indicating concentrations of carbon, sulfate, dust, sea salt and nitrogen. The bottom key reads “aerosol optical depth at 550 nanometers.”

2:40 Slow zoom out of an image taken from the Space Station showing the massive smoke plumes of the Australian wildfires

2:46 A pan across another satellite image showing the smoke and aerosols extending from the Australian wildfires across the ocean

2:53 Graphic showing a side-by-side correlation of aerosol optical depth, indicated in oranges and yellows, next to chlorophyll anomalies, indicated in greens and browns, as they progress across the South Pacific Ocean between November 2019 and February 2020.

3:00 Animation showing the PACE satellite as it orbits above Earth. The camera tilts upward to reveal the PACE logo in the black space above Earth

3:12 Triptych of footage showing the PACE instruments in their testing and integration stages with engineers in white bunny suits inspecting and installing the instruments. Shown are the HARP-2, which is the size of a toaster, the OCI, which is the size of an oven, and the SPEXone, which is the size of a toaster as well. Each section then dissolves to footage to reveal clouds, algae blooms and urban pollution respectively.

3:21 Footage of the PACE spacecraft in a cleanroom as it swiftly rotates and the camera tilts down. Two yellow highlights appear to indicate where on the spacecraft the polarimeters have been installed

3:24 Visualization of the PACE satellite paused in its orbit as the camera rotates around the spacecraft to show the angles of measurement each polarimeter provides, showing first the HARP-2 polarimeter then the SPEXone polarimeter. The HARP-2 angle of measurement is more than 10 times wider than that of SPEXone.

3:29 Animation of dark gray aerosols in a mixture of water droplets, then transitioning to drone footage of the Australian fires and smoke atop forested mountain sides

3:35 Footage of the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom as it rotates. This time the large upper third is highlighted in yellow to indicate the location of OCI

3:38 Visualization of the Earth where the OCI has painted on colorful wide bands of ocean data over a gray globe as PACE orbits Earth

3:44 Drone footage of a body of water completely covered in green algae

3:48 Jeremy Werdell sits in a studio. A graphic appears to the right reading “PACE Project Scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.”

3:54 Footage of microscopic phytoplankton show in close up. Green and blue strands of cells, followed by yellow-brown oblong structures drift in a soup of tiny particles

4:00 Visualization showing the concentration of phytoplankton in the Southern Hemisphere surrounding Australia and Southeast Asia. The greens and yellows pulse quickly as the camera pushes in slowly.

4:07 Footage of the Sydney Harbor in Australia with the opera house centered in frame and thick smog throughout the sky

4:13 Aerial footage of Sydney showing thick orange smog

4:19 Visualization of a flat projection of Earth showing multiple clouds and swirls of color indicating concentrations of carbon, sulfate, dust, sea salt and nitrogen. The bottom key reads “aerosol optical depth at 550 nanometers.” The visualization then zooms in to show a large red swirl going from west to east toward South America

4:32 Back to Werdell in studio

4:37 Footage of a large fishing boat out on the open ocean. Swarms of seagulls surround the boat over the brightly lit water

4:39 Drone footage of fires and smoke plumes in the distance with a rocky cliff in the foreground

4:46 Animation of the PACE satellite in orbit above Earth. The camera slowly pushes in toward PACE and three circles appear at the bottom of the screen showing a wildfire, phytoplankton bloom and a graph of projected climate change.

5:00 The NASA logo, a blue circle with a red stylized arrow and a white orbit path around white letters reading “NASA”