Launched in February 2024, NASA’s new Plankton Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory uniquely provides global, hyperspectral (5 nm resolution, from UV-VIS-NIR) coverage of Earth’s surface, plus hyperspectral and hyperangular polarimetry.

PACE is a comprehensive Earth System mission, delivering all new, space-based information on the health and diversity of aquatic and terrestrial life (algae, plants), aerosol properties & modes (e.g. smoke, dust), trace gases, cloud types, and more. Data products are moderate spatial resolution (1.2km²), enabling a relatively high time frequency of 1-2 days. This combination of coverage and capabilities is unmatched by any other satellite platform, public or private. PACE benefits society by expanding our foundational knowledge of Earth and advancing space-based applications tools across water resources, fisheries, air quality, land monitoring & management, and more.

In this Lunch & Learn session, attendees will first be introduced to the PACE mission and learn how available data products can be applied to a range of on-the-ground applications from Morgaine McKibben (NASA Goddard / SSAI).  Then Emil Cherrington (NASA Marshall / Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville) will present a tool developed for accessing and analyzing PACE hyperspectral data, in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, including linkages relevant for the GIS-focused members of the GISAA.