Curtain joins ocean colour satellite collaboration

The Australian institution will work with NASA, University of Miami, San José State University and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology on the effort.

Researchers recently deployed a 15m-tall buoy off the coast of Perth, Western Australia, as part of a new project to ensure the data quality for NASA’s newly launched PACE (Plankton, Aerosols, Clouds, Ocean Ecosystems) satellite mission.

Professor David Antoine, head of Curtin’s Remote Sensing and Satellite Research Group (RSSRG) in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the new optical system - MarONet (Marine Optical Network) - deployed near WA’s Rottnest Island will play a critical role in verifying PACE’s satellite observations.

“We typically think of the ocean’s colour as blue, but in many places, it looks blue-green because those areas are teeming with single-celled plants called phytoplankton, which contain chlorophyll and absorb the blue light,” Professor Antoine said in a statement.

“Phytoplankton are tiny plants that, in addition to being a vital food source for all marine life, collectively produce more than half of the world’s oxygen and absorb almost as much carbon dioxide as all the trees and land plants on Earth.