IssueTracker

URL(s) in the Earth Engine catalog (for existing datasets):

N/A – Currently, NASA PACE data is not available in the Earth Engine catalog.

Brief Dataset description:

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission provides detailed global observations of the ocean and atmosphere. Key datasets include:

1. Chlorophyll-a: Estimates phytoplankton biomass in water.
2. Total Suspended Matter (TSM): Measures concentration of suspended particles.
3. Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM): Monitors light absorption due to dissolved organic materials.
4. Sea Surface Temperature (SST): Provides information about the temperature of the ocean surface.
5. Sea Surface Salinity (SSS): Measures the salt content in the ocean.

These datasets offer insights into ocean color, aerosol properties, cloud distributions, and marine ecosystems for climate change research, water quality monitoring, and fisheries management.

Platform/Sensor:

• Platform: NASA PACE Satellite
• Sensor: Ocean Color Instrument (OCI)
• Additional Sensors: Two Multi-Angle Polarimeters (MAPs)

URL(s) of dataset description webpages:

• NASA PACE Mission Overview: https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/
• PACE Data Overview: https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/data.html

URL to download data:

• NASA EarthData: https://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/pace/
• NASA DAACs (Distributed Active Archive Centers): https://earthdata.nasa.gov/

Approximate size of the dataset:

Data volume depends on spatial resolution and time period requested. Expected to be several terabytes (TB) for global, multi-year datasets. Daily data sets could range from tens to hundreds of gigabytes (GB).

Dataset license:

• License Type: Open access (Publicly available for research and educational use)
• License URL: https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/earth-science-data/data-information-policy

Intended use:

The PACE data would be used for:

• Coastal and open-ocean monitoring
• Fisheries management (e.g., oyster habitat suitability analysis)
• Climate research and sea surface temperature studies
• Detection and monitoring of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
• Ocean acidification analysis and water quality assessments

Additional information:

• Spatial resolution of PACE Level 2 data is approximately 1 km, and Level 3 is 4 km. Temporal granularity varies from daily to weekly.

• Integrating PACE data with other datasets (e.g., MODIS, VIIRS) will allow for comprehensive oceanographic studies and environmental monitoring efforts.

• PACE’s advanced capabilities in atmospheric corrections and high-resolution measurements provide significant improvements over existing datasets for ocean color and coastal ecosystem research.