While most of our time on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer is spent studying what's beneath the surface of the ocean, sometimes what's above it interests us, too. In support of a NASA-led project, Treyson Gillespie uses a sunphotometer, a type of light meter, to measure maritime aerosols during the 2022 Puerto Rico Mapping and Deep-Sea Camera Demonstration. These tiny solid and liquid particles are suspended in the atmosphere above the ocean (e.g., windblown dust, sea salts, volcanic ash, smoke from fires, and pollution) and are important to scientists because they can affect climate, weather, and people's health.
Sunphotometer Reading
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2022 Puerto Rico Mapping and Deep-Sea Camera Demonstration.
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While most of our time on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer is spent studying what's beneath the surface of the ocean, sometimes what's above it interests us, too. In support of a NASA-led project, Treyson Gillespie uses a sunphotometer, a type of light meter, to measure maritime aerosols during the 2022 Puerto Rico Mapping and Deep-Sea Camera Demonstration. These tiny solid and liquid particles are suspended in the atmosphere above the ocean (e.g., windblown dust, sea salts, volcanic ash, smoke from fires, and pollution) and are important to scientists because they can affect climate, weather, and people's health.