Training: Introduction to Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Hyperspectral Observations for Water Quality Monitoring- 25 September 2024

Water quality monitoring in coastal ocean estuaries and inland lakes is critical for ecosystems and fisheries management and safe drinking water. Remote sensing of water quality parameters has conventionally used data from multispectral sensors (e.g., Aqua-MODIS, Landsat-OLI, Sentinel-3 OLCI, Sentinel-2 MSI) with a limited number of spectral bands. There have been research missions with hyperspectral sensors (e.g., EO-Hyperion, HICO) that have demonstrated that hyperspectral data (bandwidth <10 nm) can capture more detailed information about water surface reflectance and enable the detection of a wide variety of water pollutants. Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean, Ecosystem (PACE), a new NASA mission, was launched on 8 February 2024. PACE – Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) collects global, hyperspectral observations for water quality monitoring.

This three-part introductory training will provide an overview of past and current hyperspectral sensors. Specifically, the training will provide information on NASA’s PACE mission, its sensors and data products, webtools to access data, and software for processing hyperspectral data and water quality parameters derived from PACE/OCI. The training will also highlight some advantages and limitations of PACE data. This will be the first ARSET training focusing on the use of hyperspectral data for water quality applications.

This training is also available in Spanish.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this training attendees will be able to:

• Review the capabilities of past and current hyperspectral missions useful for water quality applications.
• Examine key characteristics of the new NASA PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean, Ecosystem) hyperspectral mission satellite and instruments including their advantages and limitations.
• Access, analyze, and visualize PACE level 2 and 3 data for water quality monitoring in selected areas of interest through using SeaDAS and Jupyter Notebook software.
• Assess the applicability of selected PACE level 2 and 3 water quality parameters to evaluate water quality in large bodies of water.

Course Dates: September 25, October 2 and 9, 2024

Time:

• English: 10:00-11:30 EDT (UTC-4)
• Spanish: 14:00-15:30 EDT (UTC-4)

To Register:

• English: https://go.nasa.gov/3MgVaw4
• Spanish: https://go.nasa.gov/3SXHSbi

Audience: This training is primarily intended for local, state, and federal Water Quality Managers, Fisheries Advisors, Aquaculture Managers, Freshwater and Coastal Ecosystems Managers, and academic researchers working on remote sensing of water quality and biogeochemistry.

Relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
• Target 14.2: By 2020, sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts, including by strengthening their resilience, and take action for their restoration in order to achieve healthy and productive oceans
• Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Course Format: Three 1.5-hour parts including Q&A.

Find out more about this opportunity via this link.