Tag: chlorophyll

Trivia All About NASA’s Next Earth-Observing Satellite

I’ll take “All About PACE” for 300, please.

While not exactly like “Jeopardy!”, PACE trivia is just as fun – and often as challenging! To prepare for the upcoming launch of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, PACE team members, friends and family gathered on Feb. 4 for an afternoon of facts, food, and fun at the Tiny Turtle restaurant in Cocoa Beach.

Two children stand in the foreground of the image facing away from the camera. They are looking at a screen in front of them. To their right is a woman with blue and purple hair pointing to the screen. On the screen are several blurry blobs - phytoplankton - which are being displayed from the microscope, seen between the heads of the two children.
Ivona Cetinić, an oceanographer at the Ocean Ecology Lab at NASA Goddard, pointed out phytoplankton during the hands-on-experiment portion of the event. The phytoplankton, found in a lake earlier in the day, were projected onto the screen from under a microscope. Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Erica McNamee

The excitement in the atmosphere was palpable – everyone talking animatedly among themselves. The crowd quieted down, however, to see Bridget Seegers, oceanographer for PACE at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, start the hands-on activities scheduled for the event. She and other PACE team members peered into a microscope, showing live phytoplankton and zooplankton that are invisible to the human eye.

She demonstrated how chlorophyll, a molecule found in phytoplankton that gives them their green color, fluoresces in red light. This led into a discussion about satellite remote sensing and how people see light in comparison to how satellites measure it.

Seegers and co-trivia-host Andy Sayer, PACE’s project science lead for the atmosphere, explained how PACE is going to help scientists learn more about the ocean, aerosols, and clouds. They encouraged the crowd to listen carefully – they dropped helpful hints for the trivia questions to come.

This led into what the crowd had all been waiting for: a friendly competition of trivia. Split into teams, the crowd went through a series of 36 fun questions all related to PACE in some way. It ranged from questions familiar to the crowd of scientists and engineers, like “What color does chlorophyll fluoresce?” (answer: red) to some more obscure questions like “How big was the shark from ‘Jaws’?” (answer: 25 feet long).

Four woman are around a table - one standing and three sitting. They are all looking down at pieces of white paper with handwriting on them, pencils in hand for grading. There are other objects, glasses, cups, menus, on the table as well. In the background of the image is a window to the outside, which has a building and a brick road on it.
Seegers and her team of graders checked off correct trivia answers. Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Erica McNamee

It was a competitive crowd and a smart one too, answering some difficult questions about Earth, PACE, and even moons far out into the solar system. Points were tallied, but Seegers stressed that everyone walked away as a winner, having learned more about the mission and gathered together for a fun event.

Header Image Caption: Bridget Seegers and Andy Sayer presenting about phytoplankton and aerosols before the trivia questions began at the Tiny Turtle. Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Erica McNamee

By Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Six Weeks at Sea: NASA Scientists Double-Check Satellite Ocean Color Data

NASA researcher Joaquin Chaves calls it “ground truthing,” even though land is nowhere in sight.

This spring, Chaves boarded the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) research cruise for six weeks of sampling water and taking measurements as the ship traversed the Atlantic Ocean. His team, based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses that information gathered at sea to verify and improve ocean data from an array of Earth-observing satellites and instruments in orbit.

Upcoming satellites like the PACE, or Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, mission launching in early 2024, will also use field campaigns like this one to help validate their sensors.

A scientist is crouching in front of a gray tank holding a small brown glass bottle. The scientist is wearing purple latex gloves and a green hard hat to safely perform the research aboard the ship.
Chaves is preparing to conduct scientific research while onboard. He worked around the clock to collect samples that will help check the accuracy of satellite data. Image Credit: NASA/Joaquin Chaves

These sensors start collecting data soon after launch, but it takes time to ensure that those observations are accurate and reflect what is happening back on Earth. One of the best ways to do this is to send scientists like Chaves into the field.

On the spring cruise, Chaves was joined by another NASA Goddard scientist, Harrison Smith.

“It was a lot of work, always intense,” Chaves said. “Even before you sail, you’re setting up. Every day is a work day, there are no Saturdays or Sundays.”

During their time on the cruise, the NASA team collected two types of data to build mathematical models to validate satellite data. Validation is the practice of checking the accuracy of data before it’s processed and used by NASA and its partners.

The first data type was the optical properties of water.

“Ocean color satellites measure visible light,” Chaves said. “We must try to replicate what they measure.”

A scientist is standing under a plastic sheet that serves as a barrier for his experiment station in front of him. The experiment includes several containers of liquid and plastic tubing.
Chaves conducting field experiments and validation. Credit: NASA/Joaquin Chaves

In addition to the optical measurements, the NASA scientists also gathered water samples to measure the abundance of phytoplankton pigments and various forms of carbon.

By the end of the campaign, Chaves had collected 700 samples to process, which he is now analyzing back at Goddard.

Chaves and Smith were just two of the research cruise’s passengers, which also included 25 scientists based in the UK, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Chaves said it was one of the best field campaigns he’s been on. The researchers connected with others and talked of future collaborations.

“It’s hard work,” he said. “It remains one of my best experiences at sea because of how modern the ship was, well trained the crew were and the officers are and willing to help.”

The AMT program, which started in 1995, allows researchers from all over the world to study the ocean’s biogeochemistry, ecology, and physical properties during voyages between the United Kingdom and the South Atlantic.

Learn more about the AMT cruise here.

Header image caption: A map of where the cruise travelled for six weeks in the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: NASA/Joaquin Chaves

By Sara Blumberg, NASA Oceans Communications Lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center