PACE OCI Validation: Airborne and Field Ocean-Aerosol Measurements

Monterey Bay, California, and the Gulf of Mexico are the primary study sites for this dataset, which combines airborne and field sampling to validate the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) on NASA's PACE satellite. The data likely contains hyperspectral and radiometric measurements of water-leaving radiance, atmospheric transmittance, and inherent optical properties, targeting a wide range of aerosol and ocean states. It is designed to provide high-accuracy calibration and validation for satellite remote sensing over larger spatial and temporal domains than traditional ship or buoy systems.

Use Cases

• Validating PACE OCI remote sensing reflectance algorithms based on in-situ water-leaving radiance measurements.
• Calibrating satellite atmospheric correction models using concurrent hyperspectral aerosol and transmittance data.
• Studying the impact of specific aerosol types (e.g., wildfire smoke, Asian dust) on ocean color signal based on described sampling conditions.
• Assessing seasonal changes in coastal ocean optics (e.g., algal blooms, riverine outflow) from repeated airborne observations in Monterey Bay.

Strengths

• Combines multiple measurement platforms (aircraft, autonomous vessels, profiling instruments) for cross-validation.
• Targets a globally-representative range of oceanic and atmospheric conditions, including extreme events linked to climate change.
• Planned repeated observations over two seasons (October 2024, May 2025) to capture temporal variability.

Limitations

• Key metadata is sparse or conflicting: column names, row counts, and specific file sizes are unknown across all sources.
• The geographic scope is described differently across platforms (Monterey Bay vs. Gulf of Mexico), creating ambiguity about the primary study area.
• Author and specific organizational provenance details are not provided.

Provenance

Source

OB_DAAC (from nasa_earthdata)

Collection Method

Combined airborne and field sampling using hyperspectral profilers (HyperPro II, 4STAR-B) and radiometric measurements (C-AIR, C-OPS).

Time Range

Planned sampling periods in October 2024 and May 2025.

Freshness

2026-03-13 11:43:07.905720

Geography

Monterey Bay, California, and the Gulf of Mexico (conflict between sources).