Annapolis Science Café @49West: Putting the PACE in Space: A New Generation of Global Satellite Observations

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NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

Artist rendering of PACE Spacecraft in orbit over earth.

Annapolis Science Café at 49 West: “Putting the PACE in Space: A New Generation of Global Satellite Observations”, by Emerson Sirk, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center (GSC), Ocean Ecology Lab and SSAI and Corrine Rojas, NASA GSC, Ocean Ecology Lab and SAIC

About the Talk: The ocean makes up about 70% of the Earth’s surface and plays a major role in the climate system. Global ocean color satellite instruments have provided a wide-scale, continuous view into ocean ecosystems since the 1990s that have given scientists insight otherwise unobtainable from boats or aircraft. This information is very useful for studying fisheries, algal blooms, water quality, and climate studies. NASA’s PACE mission, launching in January 2024, will provide a key innovation in measurements of ocean color – hyperspectral data. PACE data will be used to expand our knowledge of ocean ecosystem processes and atmospheric science, including how systems are changing over time. This talk provides an overview of the upcoming PACE mission. Major topics will include motivations for PACE, future research and applications and an overview of the mission timeline.

Please join us for the Annapolis Science Café at 49 West in person, but Zoom is available too; if interested in Zoom or other questions, email annapoliscafesi@gmail.com. You may reserve seats for this event at 49 West by calling 410-626-9796. The event is free but you need to buy something from the restaurant.

About the Speakers: Emerson Sirk has been a scientific programmer in the Ocean Ecology Lab at NASA for ~ 2 years. He has a background in biological oceanography, focusing on how global satellite ocean color data can be used to identify shifts in large-scale ocean ecosystem dynamics. He works on the development of simulated data for the PACE mission, along with being a member of the on-orbit satellite instrument calibration team.

Corrine Roja is a scientific programmer in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA Goddard. She has done science operations for various missions on the Moon and Mars, and presently helps operate the SeaHawk-1 Cubesat. With a background in planetary science and engineering, she is developing science operations for the PACE mission, which will launch in January 2024.