WEBVTT

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[bright tone playing]

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[soft music]

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all: "Our World."

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[laughter]

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- Most of the Earth is
covered with water,

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about 71% of it,

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and in that water are tiny
but super important creatures

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called phytoplankton.

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They help create
the air we breathe

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and keep the ocean healthy.

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To learn more about them,
NASA sent

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a special satellite
called P-A-C-E,

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PACE, into space.

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But why does NASA want to study
these tiny ocean creatures?

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And what do they have
to do with you?

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Let's start with the science
and learn more about plankton

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from an oceanographer.

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- Plankton are a group
of living organisms

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that live in the world's
oceans and lakes and rivers,

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any aquatic place
where there's water.

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However, we can split them

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in phytoplankton
and zooplankton.

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Phytoplankton are
teeny, tiny creatures

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that live in the ocean.

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They're like plants.

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Like plants, they produce
oxygen that we can breathe.

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They produce sugars that feed

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everything else in the ocean.

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But they also help with

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the carbon flow
from the atmosphere

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into the ocean.

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Zooplankton,
on the other side,

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act a little bit more
like animals.

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So they're the ones
that are going to come

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and eat this phytoplankton.

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- I wonder what role
phytoplankton

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and zooplankton play
in the ocean's food web.

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- Oceanic food webs
are really complex,

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and everything starts
with phytoplankton.

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Think of them as
plants of the ocean.

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And these phytoplankton are
the primary producers

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of the ocean.

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And then you have consumers.

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If it's a teeny,
tiny phytoplankton,

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it's going to be
a teeny, tiny zooplankton

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that it's going to come
and eat it.

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That's your first consumer.

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And it can be a bigger one.

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It can be a bigger one,

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and it's going to get us

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all the way to sharks

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and dolphins and whales.

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So what you have is
this phytoplankton

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bringing energy
and all important things

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to the whole oceanic food web
and making it all flow.

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- So in the ocean's food web,

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phytoplankton are producers,

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which are then eaten
by primary consumers

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like zooplankton,

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which are then eaten
by small fish,

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and small fish by larger fish,
and so on,

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all the way
to sharks and whales.

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But how do oceanographers study
phytoplankton in a lab?

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[upbeat music]

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- Phytoplankton have color

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that we can see from space.

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Sometimes we collect
a little bit of ocean water,

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and in our lab,
look at it under a microscope

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or try to differentiate

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these different colors
that they have.

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But ultimately,
we use that information

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to be able to see them
from space.

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So my strongest tool
that I have is space satellite

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that allows me to see
all the colors of the rainbow

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and therefore say
which phytoplankton

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is where in the ocean.

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- NASA scientists can study
phytoplankton

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using a variety of tools,
including satellites.

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But why do we study
phytoplankton?

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And do they have any other
benefit to life on Earth

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other than being
in the food web?

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- Phytoplankton,
while they're teeny, tiny,

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they are extremely important.

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First half
of the world's oxygen

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is produced by phytoplankton.

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The second thing is they're the
base of the marine food web.

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And ultimately,
quite a lot of the food

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that goes into fish sticks
or sushi

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or whatever you like to eat,

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it's in your plate
thanks to phytoplankton.

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Ultimately, phytoplankton are
really important

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because they're part
of the carbon cycle.

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For example, water cycles
through our environment.

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It evaporates.

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It goes to rain and goes down.

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In the same way, many elements
cycle through our Earth.

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And the most important
one is carbon.

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Carbon is part of me.

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Carbon is part of you.

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You can find it in plants,
animals, all the living--

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all the living and some
un-living parts of the Earth.

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And phytoplankton plays
a really important role

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in making that cycle happen.

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- NASA can see phytoplankton
from space,

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thanks to the PACE mission.

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PACE is setting the pace
for innovative technology

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and engineering
to monitor what's going on

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in the Earth's oceans
and study plankton.

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- PACE mission is
NASA's satellite

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that allows us to see Earth
in unprecedented way.

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It studies plankton, aerosol,
cloud, and ocean ecosystems.

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So a PACE satellite
looks like this.

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This is a toy satellite,

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and you have a body,
solar panels.

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But more important are
the things that measure

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things that we get data from.

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This is the main
instrument here

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and two little instruments.

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This main instrument is
looking at the atmosphere

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and the ocean.

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And two little ones are
really specialized

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for different things
in the atmosphere.

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- From the perspective
of a satellite

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orbiting our world,

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we can better understand

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the interconnectedness
of the Earth's oceans.

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- We learned that
world has many oceans,

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and we call it Pacific Ocean,

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Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean.

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But all these oceans
are actually one single ocean

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because they're all
interconnected.

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They talk to each other,
they flow,

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and PACE helps us understand

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the health
of the world's ocean.

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But also we know really well
that the changes in the ocean

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will affect changes
in the atmosphere--

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so whether, will it rain,
will it be sunny?

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And that ultimately affects
also the land

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where we grow our crops,
where we get our food from.

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So in the same way
ocean is interconnected,

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all the systems of the Earth
are interconnected.

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So understanding our ocean

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allows us to understand
our Earth better.

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- It turns out
these tiny ocean creatures

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are a big deal.

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Phytoplankton help create
the air we breathe,

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feed ocean animals,
and even help scientists

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understand the flow
of carbon in Earth systems.

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NASA's PACE mission
helps us learn

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how to keep everyone healthy
in our world.

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See you next time.

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[light music]

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♪ ♪

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all: "Our World."
[laughter]