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Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L3M_POC_NRT
PACE_OCI_L3M_POC_NRT·v3.1·dataset

Carbon in tiny ocean particles (PACE, near-real-time)

PACE OCI Level-3 Global Mapped Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) - Near Real-time (NRT) Data, version 3.1
ocean NASA OB_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. The amount of carbon held in tiny particles floating near the ocean surface, mapped globally.

How it's made. Produced from the OCI instrument on NASA's PACE satellite as a near-real-time gridded product, using best-available supporting data for fast delivery.

How & where you'd use it. Helps quantify how much carbon is stored in surface waters and supports studies of ocean carbon cycling and ecosystems; the near-real-time version is built for speed.

What's measured

Oceans › Ocean Chemistry › Organic CarbonOCEANS › OCEAN CHEMISTRY › CARBONOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS

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 Ocean Biology DAAC produces near real-time (NRT) products using the best-available combination of ancillary data from meteorological and ozone data. As such, the inputs and the calibration used are less than optimal. Near real-time products provide a snapshot of the data during a short time period within a single orbit. The Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) data suite includes product of particulate organic carbon concentration from ocean-color reflectance. POC is widely used to quantify surface carbon stocks, support biogeochemical and export-flux studies, and provide ecological context alongside chlor_a, bbp, Kd_490, and SST. Geophysical variables in this suite include: - poc - Particulate Organic Carbon (mg C m^-3), Stramski et al. 2022

Get the data

pace_oci_l3m_poc_nrt_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L3M_POC_NRT",
    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.