Huemmrich discusses PACE’s OCI Data Regarding Worldwide Plant Health
Fred Huemmrich (618/UMBC) recently co-authored a Remote Sensing paper titled “Unveiling PACE OCI’s hyperspectral terrestrial data products” with Skye Caplan (616/GSFC). The PACE satellite (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission) was launched on February 8, 2024, and the main goals were to obtain data about Earth’s oceans, to monitor plankton amounts, to study atmospheric conditions, and to understand various ecosystems. The three instruments onboard PACE are SPEXone, HARP2, and OCI. The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) “is the only instrument – in space or elsewhere – that provides hyperspectral coverage around the globe every one to two days,” stated in a recent NASA feature by Erica McNamee titled “NASA’s PACE Mission Reveals a Year of Terrestrial Data on Plant Health.”
Because of the OCI, scientists can view the “global
dynamics of leaf pigments for the first time,” says Dr. Huemmrich. By applying
the instrument’s capabilities to monitor plant health, the leaves’ pigments are
highlighted in corresponding bright colors in visualizations. “Plants use these
pigments to protect themselves from fluctuations in the weather, adapting to
the environment through chemical changes in their leaves. … If they didn’t adjust their color, it would
damage the mechanisms they have to perform photosynthesis,” writes Ms. McNamee. Applying PACE’s capabilities
to terrestrial studies provides improved data on forest monitoring, crop
health, and drought effects; in addition, the combination of the PACE data with
NDVI data (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) provides an accurate
assessment from space of vegetation and barren land throughout the world.
Dr. Huemmrich worked with the Scientific Visualization
Studio at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on two related visualizations: “Leaf
Year: Seeing Plants in Hyperspectral Color" and “Global
Views of PACE Land Vegetation Data.” Through Dr. Huemmrich’s research and the corresponding
visualizations, we learn how PACE and the OCI can be utilized to monitor plant
health below the oceans’ surfaces as well as on land across the globe, and convey issues that may affect animal and human populations.
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Posted: June 24, 2025, 4:46 PM
