Invited Speakers

Observations for a Changing Planet: NOAA’s Future Geostationary Satellites

Tuesday, June 11 | 11:30 a.m.

With applications from disaster response to water management to firefighting, NOAA’s geostationary satellites have long been one of the nation’s most versatile observing systems. The current generation, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R), serves industries from transportation to energy production to emergency management. With its next-generation satellites, the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) series, NOAA plans to improve service for existing users and expand service to meet the needs of communities affected by ocean and coastal conditions, air quality, and climate change. By improving on GOES-R’s imager and lightning mapper, and by adding hyperspectral sounder, ocean color, and atmospheric composition observations, GeoXO will be even more indispensable to the US and our neighbors throughout the Western Hemisphere. GeoXO is being designed to meet the challenges of a changing planet, including more severe hurricanes, higher rainfall and lightning rates, spreading harmful algal blooms, ever-present wildfires, and worsening air quality. This presentation will discuss the instrument improvements planned for GeoXO, as well as the new applications achievable with the enhanced capabilities. The GeoXO program status and an overview of the instrument calibration requirements and early calibration plans will also be presented.

Pam Sullivan, Director of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) Observations, NOAA Satellite and Information Service

Pam Sullivan leads the development of NOAA’s geostationary satellite systems as the Director of the Office of GEO Observations. She manages the GOES-R and GeoXO programs and is responsible for the development of the spacecraft, instruments, launch services, and ground systems. Sullivan joined NOAA in 2018 after 27 years with NASA, where she contributed to multiple spaceflight missions including the Joint Polar Satellite System, James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and the GOES-IM, NOP, and R-Series projects. Early in her career, Sullivan served as a United States Air Force officer supporting Space Shuttle and other manned spaceflight missions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering from MIT.

From Calibration to Clarity—Communicating Space Tech for Everyone

Wednesday, June 12 | 10:30 a.m.

In this session, we’ll explore effective strategies for translating complex scientific and engineering concepts into compelling stories that resonate with non-technical audiences. Attendees will gain practical tools to enhance their communication skills, ensuring that groundbreaking work on space-based instruments is accessible and engaging for all. Join us to learn how to make your projects shine beyond the lab.

Eric Warren, Public Relations Director, Utah State University/Space Dynamics Laboratory

Eric Warren is the Public Relations Director at Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL). Mr. Warren has over 20 years of experience in public relations, marketing, and community relations within the space and defense industry covering the breadth of outreach and advocacy. As a senior-level public relations professional, Mr. Warren has used his expertise to create strategies and deploy tactics that shape favorable public opinion and communication across SDL to support the development goals of the organization.

Keeping PACE with the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Mission

Wednesday, June 12 | 2:15 p.m.

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in the early morning of February 8, 2024. Just 63 days later, data from this newest Earth-observing satellite became available to the public. These data will extend and improve upon NASA’s 20+ years of global satellite observation of our living oceans, atmospheric aerosols, and clouds and initiate an advanced set of climate-relevant data records. PACE’s primary instrument, the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), is a global spectrometer that spans the ultraviolet to near-infrared region in 2.5 nm steps and also includes seven discrete shortwave infrared bands from 940 to 2260 nm, with the Space Dynamics Laboratory playing a major role in the latter. This leap in technology will enable improved understanding of aquatic ecosystems and biogeochemistry, as well as provide new information on phytoplankton community composition and improved detection of algal blooms. OCI will also advance many atmospheric aerosol, cloud, and land capabilities from heritage satellite instrumentation, which in combination with its ocean measurements will enable improved assessment of atmospheric and terrestrial impacts on ocean biology and chemistry. In the months since launch and initial data release, the PACE project applied instrument temporal and system vicarious calibrations, pursued cross-instrument comparisons, conducted performance assessments, explored synergies with other missions, and released advanced science data products. In this session, I will present a snapshot of these activities and their impacts and outcomes, encompassing the first two months of the PACE mission.

Jeremy Werdell, PACE Project Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Dr. Jeremy Werdell is an Oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), where he also serves as the Project Scientist for PACE. Jeremy resolved to become a marine scientist in 1988 upon his return from an eighth-grade science trip to the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. He joined GSFC in 1999, where he has remained ever since in the pursuit of improving our understanding of the ocean’s biological responses to Earth’s changing climate—namely, how the spatial distributions of phytoplankton communities evolve over time. Given that Jeremy wears a NASA badge, his mandatory secondary interests extend to the more challenging aspects of satellite remote sensing, including the on-orbit calibration of ocean color instruments, the development of remote-sensing algorithms, and the validation of satellite-derived data products. These, in combination with his subject matter living in a three-dimensional fluid on a rotating ellipsoid, create a research environment packed with opportunities to contribute to NASA’s pursuit of better understanding our home planet.