{"id":187551,"date":"2024-11-20T13:34:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?p=187551"},"modified":"2024-11-25T10:34:51","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T15:34:51","slug":"mapping-ocean-ecosystems-with-nasa-technology-at-pace-hackweek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/news\/mapping-ocean-ecosystems-with-nasa-technology-at-pace-hackweek\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Ocean Ecosystems with NASA Technology at PACE Hackweek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nov. 20, 2024<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.us-ocb.org\/training-activities\/pace-hackweek-2024\/\">NASA&#8217;s PACE Hackweek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/meet\/sarah-lang\/\">Sarah Lang<\/a>, a Ph.D. candidate at GSO, worked on a multi-institutional team to explore how mesoscale eddies\u2014swirling ocean currents spanning 10-100 km\u2014affect phytoplankton ecosystems, which are vital to the overall health of oceanic ecosystems and future climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their project, &#8220;GO-SWACE,&#8221; combined data from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) to map phytoplankton distributions with unprecedented spectral detail<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>NASA Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) to resolve ocean currents 10x finer than previous satellite technology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>BGC-Argo Floats to uncover vertical ocean structures<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With this trio of tools, the team mapped out the evolution of phytoplankton within an eddy that pinched off the Gulf Stream and propagated away. Their analysis revealed shifts in phytoplankton communities, showing how eddies trap and mix water while transporting carbon and nutrients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"249\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-1024x249.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-187553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-1024x249.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-300x73.jpg 300w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-768x187.jpg 768w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-1536x374.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-2048x498.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-364x89.jpg 364w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-500x122.jpg 500w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-1000x243.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-1280x312.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace-2000x487.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/SarahLang_GOSwace.jpg 2194w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Phytoplankton assemblages\u00a0are estimated using\u00a0Priscila Lange&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https:\/\/opg.optica.org\/oe\/fulltext.cfm?uri=oe-28-18-25682&amp;id=434471__;!!Jh1S!jI5PGyufSJDmrv1ISIGUSjRlX7WGABPdSqXPwPkrOBuBj-iiFU_mEn1ynElHWC20NIjFpsQd6gHAN-Td7Wxt$\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MOANA algorithm<\/a>.\u00a0Black lines\/arrows correspond to streamlines from SWOT geostrophic velocities (estimated from sea surface height).\u00a0In the right-most panel, the pro:pico ratio within the eddy was likely shaped by the trapping of Gulf Stream waters (same ratio of ~0 in the center of the eddy as the top left corner).\u00a0 On the other hand, the pro:syn ratio changes as the eddy propagates away from the Gulf Stream (center panel), indicating a shift in those phytoplankton communities.\u00a0We were also excited to backtrack the evolution of the eddy since its formation, and to see how SWOT could potentially indicate areas of strong coherent trapping (e.g. on the left side of the eddy) vs. areas where the eddy may be mixing with the surrounding waters (e.g. bottom right of eddy).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"cl-wrapper cl-card-wrapper\"><a class=\"cl-card   right\" href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/publications\/aboard-gso\/gaining-a-new-perspective\/\" title=\"\"><div class=\"cl-card-container media\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/GSFC_20220503_PACE_043265_2000w.jpg\" srcset=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-card-container text\"><div class=\"cl-card-text\"><h2>GSO alums contribute to PACE<\/h2><p>From Dean Paula Bontempi, who was part of early PACE feasibility studies at NASA, to the field scientists validating satellite data, GSO grads have contributed at every step.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-card-container button\">Explore<\/div><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Why does this matter? Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food web and key players in the biological carbon pump, making them essential to understanding ocean health and future climate predictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A huge shoutout to the GO-SWACE team: Sarah Lang (URI GSO), Lexi Jones-Kellett (MIT), Marin Cornec (NOAA-PMEL), Md Masud-Ul-Alam (UGA), Tasha Snow (UMD, NASA), and Vivien Puppa Kocsis (Harvard). Sarah reflects, \u201cI learned so much from working with my team members, and it was rewarding to see our ideas and knowledge come together. This was the most rewarding part of the Hackweek for me!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group is excited to continue developing their findings and is already working on a manuscript\u2014stay tuned for updates!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At NASA&#8217;s PACE Hackweek, Sarah Lang, a Ph.D. candidate at GSO, worked on a multi-institutional team to explore how mesoscale eddies affect phytoplankton ecosystems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4762,"featured_media":187556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[2005,3079,3080],"class_list":["post-187551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nasa","tag-pace","tag-sarah-lang"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4762"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187551"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187578,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187551\/revisions\/187578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}