Investigate PACE

[chrisws]

https://pace.oceansciences.org/recentmapdata.htm

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem)

• Launch: February 8, 2024 (NASA's newest ocean color mission)
• Primary Instrument: Ocean Color Instrument (OCI)
• Key Feature - Hyperspectral: OCI's optical spectrometer measures properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and enables continuous measurements at finer resolutions than previous sensors

Key Differences with VIIRS

Feature	PACE OCI	VIIRS
Spectral Range	Hyperspectral (continuous)	Multispectral (discrete bands)
Phytoplankton	Can identify species	Total chlorophyll only
Primary Mission	Ocean biology research	Operational Earth monitoring
Spatial Resolution	1 km	750m (ocean color bands)
Heritage	New technology	Successor to MODIS

For South Australia, this is critical - you can now distinguish between:

• Harmless diatom blooms (common, support fisheries)
• Harmful algal blooms (HABs) like toxic cyanobacteria
• Red tide species (dinoflagellates)

Early Warning System

PACE enables prediction of the "boom-bust" cycle of fisheries and the appearance of harmful algae

• Detect harmful species before they become a visible problem
• Track bloom development stages
• Monitor toxin-producing species specifically