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This Earth Day, join us in person and online to learn how NASA studies the ocean from space. Explore the complex connections between sea, air, land, and climate through a mix of in-person and virtual activities, talks, and trivia.
For nearly five decades, the agency and its partners have collected data across all of the world’s ocean basins with satellites, airplane-mounted instruments, and space shuttles and stations.
On April 11, NASA released the first images from the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, which was launched on Feb. 8, 2024, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. PACE joined the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich in helping NASA revolutionize our understanding of our oceans. You can see one of the images below, in which bright pink and green colors indicate different communities of phytoplankton.
Discover more about PACE and NASA’s Earth-observing fleet during an in-person celebration. The event will be hosted at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 18 and 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT. The event will include:
Online, explore how NASA works to understand our oceans at a global scale. Visit science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-day/ for dozens of resources, including:
NASA’s in-person and virtual Earth Day events are free and open to the public.
You can also celebrate Earth Day as a NASA citizen scientist. Play the NeMO-Net iPad game to help NASA classify coral reefs, or download the GLOBE Observer app to help monitor clouds, water, and plants in your area. NASA’s citizen science projects have led to thousands of observations and several discoveries, with more than 410 NASA citizen scientists named as co-authors on peer-reviewed scientific publications. NASA citizen science is open to everyone around the world, not just U.S. residents.
NASA’s innovative tools and data inform decision-makers around the world as they monitor our changing climate and work to address environmental challenges. NASA partners with state and local governments, international space agencies, and federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). NASA is committed to making data accessible, inclusive, and transparent for everyone — an approach known as “open science.”
To learn more about NASA’s Earth Day activities, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-day/.
By Julia Tilton
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.