PACE's Instruments Reveal a New Dimension of Atmospheric Information

  • Released Tuesday, November 14, 2023
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Two instruments on NASA’s upcoming PACE satellite mission will look at aerosols and clouds – the A and C in the mission’s name, Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem – to help scientists learn more about their characteristics and interactions in Earth’s systems.


PACE’s instruments that will help scientists view features of Earth’s atmosphere are polarimeters, which measure light properties. There are characteristics of light that we can see with our eyes, such as color, but others that are invisible to the human eye, like what scientists call polarization.

Footage credits: 00:00-00:24: Pond5, Martin Kaae Kristiansen, specMACS/EURE4A

Music: "Crystal Dance," "Calculate Trajectory," "Natural Ice Sculptures," "Digital Epiphany," "Quantum Networks," Universal Production Music

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
This page was last updated on Monday, November 13, 2023 at 11:35 AM EST.

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