PACE Data Tour - Visualizations

  • Released Tuesday, April 21, 2026
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A tour of several PACE data products, highlighting observations of aerosols, ocean biology, clouds, and land surface conditions.

This visualization is a tour of several PACE data products, highlighting observations of aerosols, ocean biology, clouds, and land surface conditions. Together, these views demonstrate how PACE provides a more complete picture of Earth’s interconnected systems. The scenes shown here represent a range of data products, some of which are currently available while others remain in development.

To learn more about the PACE mission, visit: https://pace.gsfc.nasa.gov/

PACE captures smoke and dust from the Palisades and Eaton wildfires in Southern California on January 9. The true-color view shows how these plumes spread across the region and offshore, while additional PACE products reveal relative burn severity on the ground and aerosol properties in the atmosphere, including optical depth, light absorption, and dominant particle size.

PACE detects harmful cyanobacteria blooms across the Great Lakes during summer 2024. Elevated concentrations appear in regions like Green Bay, Saginaw Bay, and western Lake Erie, showing how cyanobacteria abundance changes over time.

PACE tracks aerosols over the North Atlantic, revealing Saharan dust transported westward and wildfire smoke moving east. The aerosol index highlights these large-scale atmospheric transport patterns

PACE resolves different types of phytoplankton in the eastern Atlantic, distinguishing communities like picoeukaryotes, Prochlorococcus, and Synechococcus. Each group occupies distinct regions of the ocean, shaped by differences in nutrient availability and large-scale ocean structure.

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A diatom bloom unfolds off the Kamchatka Peninsula as spring conditions drive rapid phytoplankton growth. These blooms play an important role in ocean ecosystems, helping transfer carbon and support marine life.

A harmful algal bloom of Karenia mikimotoi appears off the coast of South Australia. Unlike cyanobacteria, this species is identified through its fluorescence in sunlight.

HARP2’s multi-angle observations reveal the three-dimensional structure of clouds along a satellite orbit. These measurements provide new insight into cloud vertical structure and variability.

Ship emissions modify marine stratocumulus clouds over the North Pacific, creating bright streaks known as ship tracks. Aerosols from ships lead to smaller cloud droplets and brighter clouds.

PACE maps plant pigments across North America, revealing changes in vegetation health and productivity. These pigments vary throughout the year and provide insight into plant productivity and responses to stress

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Missions

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Datasets used

Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This page was originally published on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 at 6:05 PM EDT.