2025-09-03, 13:30–15:00 (Europe/Amsterdam), Expert Room 3
This tutorial lets you dive into the world of data from PACE, NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds and ocean Ecosystem mission using Python notebooks with a focus on SPEXone.
PACE, the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds and ocean Ecosystem satellite was launched in February 2024 and carries three scientific instruments. The Ocean Color Instrument takes hyperspectral data at a 1 km x 1 km resolution and 2-day global coverage with very high radiometric accuracy. The two multiangle polarimeters, HARP2 and SPEXone, yield polarized data at a 5 km x 5 km resolution. HARP2 has 10-60 viewing angles at 4 spectral bands, while SPEXone (developed in the Netherlands) takes hyperspectral data at 5 viewing angles. Together, these instruments generate an unprecedented dataset that enables the characterization of ocean, land, clouds and the atmosphere.
This tutorial aims to give the audience a jump-start into using data from the PACE mission using Python notebooks. We will explore Level-1 data (calibrated radiometry and multi-angle polarimetry) to create (hyperspectral) images of the Earth and look at Level-2 data and beyond in order to view higher level geophysical products, such as maps of atmospheric properties (e.g. aerosol and clouds), oceanic properties (e.g. phytoplankton), and land (e.g. vegetation).
Required background knowledge: some proficiency in Python and experience running Jupyter notebooks.
It is advised to setup your python environment prior to the workshop in orde to not loose valuable time.
Tutorial link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lg__rXY6ukO7u0L4StkEX2gG53n4wPOX
Jeroen Rietjens is a Senior Instrument Scientist at SRON Space Research Organisation Netherlands. He is the SPEXone Product Development Lead for the NASA PACE mission and in this role responsible for instrument operations. He is also the Lead Performance Engineer for SPEXone and thereby responsible for the data quality. Via this role he has been involved in almost every aspect of the SPEXone signal chain, from hardware design and procurement to calibration and data processing.