{"id":475664,"date":"2023-06-22T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?post_type=migration&p=475664"},"modified":"2024-03-21T13:48:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T17:48:24","slug":"nasa-wants-to-identify-phytoplankton-species-from-space-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/goddard\/nasa-wants-to-identify-phytoplankton-species-from-space-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Wants to Identify Phytoplankton Species from Space. Here\u2019s Why."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>They\u2019re small, but they\u2019re mighty. From producing oxygen we breathe to soaking up carbon we emit to feeding fish we eat, tiny phytoplankton are a crucial part of ocean ecosystems and essential to life as we know it on Earth. To give us a new view of these extraordinary aquatic organisms, NASA is launching a satellite in early 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instruments on the PACE (short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem) satellite will peer down at the ocean and collect data on the colors of light reflecting off it, telling us where different types of phytoplankton are thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ocean Color Instrument on PACE will be able to observe more than 100 different wavelengths, and is the first scientific satellite to do so daily on a global scale. This \u201chyperspectral\u201d instrument will make it possible to identify phytoplankton by species for the first time from space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Insanely Important World of Phytoplankton\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1xl5Z1d3wcQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ivona Cetini\u0107, the Science Lead for Ocean Biogeochemistry for PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) describes the weird, wonderful and important world of phytoplankton and why it’s important for the PACE mission to study these tiny creatures.<br>Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center<br><a href=\"https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/14361\" rel=\"noopener\">This video can be downloaded for free at NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Phytoplankton and Photosynthesis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phytoplankton are tiny organisms that float on the surface of the ocean and other water bodies. Like land-based plants, phytoplankton use photosynthesis to absorb sunlight and carbon dioxide and generate oxygen and carbohydrates, which are carbon-filled sugars. These sugars make phytoplankton the center of the ocean food web: They nourish larger animals \u2013 from zooplankton to shellfish to finfish \u2013 that are then eaten by even larger fish and marine mammals. The creation of those sugars from sunlight is called primary production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though phytoplankton make up less than 1% of the total biomass on Earth that can photosynthesize, they deliver about 45% of global primary production. Without phytoplankton, most oceanic food webs would collapse, which would be devastating for both marine life and humans who rely on fish for food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tiny organisms provide more than just nutrients. Through photosynthesis, phytoplankton create oxygen that is released into the ocean and atmosphere. In fact, since they began photosynthesizing over 3 billion years ago \u2013 more than two billion years before land plants and trees \u2013 phytoplankton have made about 50% of all the oxygen that has been produced on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Photosynthesis gives them a key role in the global carbon cycle as well, as they soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What phytoplankton do with that carbon depends on the species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLike plants on land, phytoplankton are highly diverse,\u201d said Ivona Cetini\u0107, a biological oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Lab at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Each of these diverse species has different characteristics that allow them to take on different jobs in Earth\u2019s carbon systems, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Phytoplankton like <em>Emiliana huxleyi<\/em> incorporate carbon into their shell-like outer coating. When they die, the shells sink and sequester the carbon in the ocean depths. Other phytoplankton species fit a certain niche for picky eaters like oysters, which only eat phytoplankton of a certain size. Still other species of phytoplankton may capture carbon through photosynthesis, where it then remains on the ocean surface until the organisms decompose, releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI hope that PACE, once it gives us a view of ocean phytoplankton diversity, can tell us so much more about global carbon flow in oceans, now and in the future,\u201d Cetini\u0107 said.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"2038\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?w=2048\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"A brown and green island, centered in the middle of the image, surrounded by a dark blue ocean with wispy swirls of greens and teals that illustrate blooms of phytoplankton.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg 7152w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=300,298 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=768,764 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=1024,1019 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=1536,1528 1536w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=2048,2038 2048w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=50,50 50w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=200,200 200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=400,398 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=600,597 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=900,895 900w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=1200,1194 1200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden-1.jpeg?resize=2000,1990 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">\u201cWithout phytoplankton, we may not be able to breathe or eat sushi,\u201d said Aimee Neeley, a NASA Goddard oceanographer. Large green blooms of phytoplankton swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credits: USGS\/NASA\/Landsat 7<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Phytoplankton in the Cold<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even in colder waters at higher latitudes, phytoplankton are crucial to ocean life. In polar regions, phytoplankton blooms \u2013 when the organisms grow and multiply in vast numbers visible from space \u2013 can follow the cycle of sea ice melt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When sea ice cover recedes, sunlight can reach the surface of the ocean and the phytoplankton that float on it, allowing them to photosynthesize and thrive after a long period of being covered. This produces fuel for other species. Polar species from clams and krill all the way up to walruses and whales rely on these timely blooms for their food sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAn alteration of the timing of the blooms impacts the entire ecosystem,\u201d said Aimee Neeley, a biological oceanographer at NASA Goddard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the timing and extent of sea ice retreat changes in a warming climate, PACE will be able to track changes to the timing of blooms, providing insights into the wider impacts to the ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Identifying Harmful Phytoplankton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not all phytoplankton are beneficial for ecosystems. Some species can produce toxins that are dangerous for humans or other marine species. These harmful algal blooms can disrupt ecosystems as well as daily life for people near coasts, lakes, and rivers. Blooms of cyanobacteria, for example, can spoil drinking water and recreational water use with the toxins they generate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists have been using some satellite data to track and monitor these blooms and the conditions that cause them. PACE should make it easier to decipher these species and conditions, allowing people to develop ways to mitigate the impacts and prevent future blooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot all phytoplankton create harmful algal blooms, so if we can use the satellite data to better separate harmful from non-harmful blooms, that would be helpful for water managers and scientists that are trying to understand phytoplankton communities in a region,\u201d said Bridget Seegers, an oceanographer at NASA Goddard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PACE will not be the first satellite to let us see phytoplankton from space. The mission is a successor to missions like Terra, Aqua, Landsat, and SeaWiFS (the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor), which have gathered data on phytoplankton since the 1990s. PACE, which is being assembled at and managed by engineers at NASA Goddard, will significantly expand our ability to distinguish and track phytoplankton every day, all over the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHopefully, the hyperspectral nature of the Ocean Color Instrument will allow us to better tease apart the phytoplankton types from each other and from non-phytoplankton particles,\u201d Neeley said. \u201cTo me, the opportunities for research will be endless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By <a href=\"mailto:erica.s.mcnamee@nasa.gov\">Erica McNamee<\/a><\/em><br><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/goddard\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/a>, Greenbelt, Md. <\/em><br>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They\u2019re small, but they\u2019re mighty. From producing oxygen we breathe to soaking up carbon we emit to feeding fish we eat, tiny phytoplankton are a crucial part of ocean ecosystems and essential to life as we know it on Earth. To give us a new view of these extraordinary aquatic organisms, NASA is launching a [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340,"featured_media":476172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2857,9423,3228,10721,12211],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[4210,4051,3913,5136,7362,7363,10596],"coauthors":[11491,11481],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Wants to Identify Phytoplankton Species from Space. Here\u2019s Why.","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/goddard\/nasa-wants-to-identify-phytoplankton-species-from-space-heres-why\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/goddard\/nasa-wants-to-identify-phytoplankton-species-from-space-heres-why\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden.jpeg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate D. Ramsayer"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Erica McNamee"}],"creator":["Kate D. Ramsayer","Erica McNamee"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Earth","Water on Earth","Goddard Space Flight Center","Climate Change","PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)"],"dateCreated":"2023-06-22T15:30:00Z","datePublished":"2023-06-22T15:30:00Z","dateModified":"2024-03-21T17:48:24Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Wants to Identify Phytoplankton Species from Space. Here\u2019s Why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/goddard\/nasa-wants-to-identify-phytoplankton-species-from-space-heres-why\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden.jpeg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2023-06-22T15:30:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Earth,Water on Earth,Goddard Space Flight Center,Climate Change,PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Kate D. Ramsayer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Erica McNamee\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":6,"time_ago":"11 months","featured_image":{"id":476172,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/phytoplanktonsweden.jpeg","title":"phytoplanktonsweden","alt":"A brown and green island, centered in the middle of the image, surrounded by a dark blue ocean with wispy swirls of greens and teals that illustrate blooms of phytoplankton.","caption":"Van Gogh from Space\u00a0- July 13th, 2005 Description: In the style of Van Gogh's painting \"Starry Night,\" massive congregations of greenish phytoplankton swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants that form the first link in nearly all ocean food chains. Population explosions, or blooms, of phytoplankton, like the one shown here, occur when deep currents bring nutrients up to sunlit surface waters, fueling the growth and reproduction of these tiny plants. Credit: USGS\/NASA\/Landsat 7 To learn more about the Landsat satellite go to: http:\/\/landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov\/ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA\u2019s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA\u2019s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency\u2019s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475664"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635540,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475664\/revisions\/635540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475664"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=475664"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=475664"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=475664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}