Research Vessel (RV) Blissfully is a 30-foot sailboat that is the science lab and home for two sailing scientists, Captain Gordon Ackland and myself, Dr. Bridget Seegers. The RV Blissfully is a recent addition to the fleet of research vessels. Previously, Blissfully’s days were primarily spent peacefully floating snug in a San Diego boat slip with an occasional day sail. However, Blissfully was volunteered to support the PACE-PAX campaign and therefore transitioned a month ago into RV Blissfully.
PACE-PAX
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 (all times PDT)
Meetings (all times PDT):
No Weather Briefing, Mission Status, Flight Planning Meeting
NASA ER-2
Hard Down Day
CIRPAS Twin Otter Science Flight #12
0800 Hangar Access
0900: Science Weather Brief (Teams Meeting)
1000: Pilot Brief (Teams Meeting)
1300 Take Off
1519 Landing
~1600: Post Flight Brief (Teams Meeting)
Meetings (all times PDT):
1000: Weather Briefing, Mission Status and Flight Planning Meeting (Teams Meeting)
Meetings (all times PDT):
1000: Weather Briefing, Mission Status and Flight Planning Meeting (Teams Meeting)
Meetings (all times PDT):
No Weather Briefing, Mission Status, Flight Planning Meeting
NASA ER-2
Hard Down Day
CIRPAS Twin Otter
Women in Aviation International’s (WAI) 10th annual Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) hosted by Joby Aviation
RV Shearwater
*All times are approximate. It will probably be modified based on the ship’s readiness and weather*
0815: Crew Briefing (Teams Meeting)
0900: Depart from Santa Barbara
1700: Return to Santa Barbara
True-color corrected reflectance image overlaid with a layer showing high chlorophyll a concentrations off the coast of California on May 8, 2024 (indicated in colors of red/dark red). This layer provides the near-surface concentration of chlorophyll a in milligrams of chlorophyll pigment per cubic meter (mg/m3). The image was acquired by the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) aboard the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite.
Meetings (all times PDT):
1000: Weather Briefing, Mission Status and Flight Planning Meeting (Teams Meeting)
Astrobiology - Algal blooms have become a common occurrence on Lake Erie, as much a part of summer at the lake as island-hopping, scenic cruises, and roller coasters. In 2024, a bloom of blue-green algae began forming in the lake’s western basin on June 24—the earliest that a bloom has been identified by NOAA since the agency began tracking them in 2002. It was still present in early September. Bloom season can last into October, with its duration depending on the frequency of wind events that mix lake waters in the fall.
Meetings (all times PDT):
1000: Weather Briefing, Mission Status and Flight Planning Meeting (Teams Meeting)
06:00 Local Time: Go/No-Go Meeting We are in the field supporting PACE-PAX (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment), a multi-disciplinary mission that involves two aircraft—the NASA ER-2 and CIRPAS Twin Otter—and several mobile ocean assets, all helping to validate observations and data products from NASA’s new satellite observation platform, PACE. Our days typically start with an initial look at the weather in the area of operations and airport conditions during takeoff and landing.
Disclaimer: This material is being kept online for historical purposes. Though accurate at the time of publication, it is no longer being updated. The page may contain broken links or outdated information, and parts may not function in current web browsers. Visit https://espo.nasa.gov for information about our current projects.
