SeaBASS

DOI

10.5067/SeaBASS/PVST_NORTHERN_INDIAN_OCEAN/DATA001

Description

This project will collect high-quality, bio-optical, and biogeochemical data for validation of advanced satellite products from PACE OCI for the Arabian Sea, a highly under-sampled region of the worlds oceans, now experiencing dramatic ecosystem changes from human activities and climate-change. Over the past two decades, the base of the food chain of this monsoonal-driven ecosystem has transitioned from diatoms to one dominated by the mixotrophic dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans (Noctiluca) that forms intense and widespread blooms visible from space. Capturing such phytoplankton transitions has been the pursuit of ocean color missions for more than three decades, and with its hyperspectral capabilities, NASAs PACE mission can now provide unprecedented insight into the response of phytoplankton communities to global pressures. Despite the dramatic rates at which the Arabian Sea has been changing, it remains among the most optically under-sampled of global water bodies. As part of this effort, we will leverage our long-standing ties with colleagues in India to collect high quality, high resolution (sub-pixel scale), continuous, underway and discrete bio-optical measurements to validate standard and advanced ocean products from PACE, essential to advance our understanding of vulnerable marine ecosystems and their response to anthropogenic change. As part of this activity, we plan to participate in one pre-monsoon cruise (2025) led by Space Applications Centre, ISRO, India, and two post-bloom ONR led cruises in April-May of 2024 and in April-May 2025. The pre-monsoon cruises are being undertaken as part of an Indo-US study focused on establishing triggers of the southwest monsoon rainfall season over the Indian sub-continent. Some of the data shared under this DOI is part of the Arabian Sea Marine environment through Science and Advanced Training (EKAMSAT) collaborative effort between the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India and the Office of Naval Research. EKAMSAT commenced with a pilot study in June 2023. The pilot data is being archived under the SeaBASS experiment EKAMSAT_Pilot_ASTRAL (DOI: 10.5067/SeaBASS/EKAMSAT_Pilot_ASTRAL/DATA001) and can downloaded here: https://seabass.gsfc.nasa.gov/experiment/EKAMSAT_Pilot_ASTRAL.