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Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L3M_CARBON
PACE_OCI_L3M_CARBON·v3.1·dataset

How much carbon lives in ocean plants (PACE OCI)

PACE OCI Level-3 Global Mapped Phytoplankton Carbon Data, version 3.1
ocean NASA OB_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. How much carbon is held in the ocean's phytoplankton (the microscopic plant-like life at the base of the marine food web), given as a concentration.

How it's made. Derived from ocean-color observations by the OCI instrument on NASA's PACE satellite and mapped into a global gridded product.

How & where you'd use it. Used to estimate marine biomass and carbon stocks, study ocean ecosystems and productivity, and feed biogeochemical models.

What's measured

Oceans › Ocean Chemistry › Organic CarbonBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS › PLANKTON › PHYTOPLANKTON

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-03-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byPACE (OCI)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

The carbon_phyto product provides phytoplankton carbon concentration derived from NASA ocean-color observations. Typical uses include quantifying biomass and carbon stocks, assessing ecosystem productivity and change, driving biogeochemical models, and providing biological context alongside chlorophyll, PAR, SST, and other environmental variables. Refer to the file metadata and product documentation for algorithm details, flags, and any mission-specific caveats (especially in optically complex coastal/inland waters). Geophysical variables in this suite include: - carbon_phyto — Phytoplankton carbon concentration (mg m⁻³)

Get the data

pace_oci_l3m_carbon_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L3M_CARBON",
    version="3.1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from OB_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.