WEBVTT

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- This floating
microscopic organism

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looks like a spinning top
and can be found in our ocean.

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How does it affect you?

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The answer may surprise you.

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Find out next on "Real World."

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[dramatic music]

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Earth is about 71% water.

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And almost anywhere
there's water,

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there's phytoplankton,

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tiny but mighty organisms
that play a critical role

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in our planet's ecosystem.

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NASA's PACE mission
helps us understand

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phytoplankton's impact
on the Earth's oceans,

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land, and atmosphere.

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Let's start with the science.

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What are phytoplankton?

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And what role do phytoplankton
play within Earth's systems?

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- So phytoplankton are a large
group of living organisms

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that we can find in ocean and,
we say, other aquatic bodies.

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So like, lakes and rivers.

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If I would compare
the smallest one

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that is around 0.3 micrometers

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to the largest one

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that can go sometimes
up to 1 millimeter,

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you can see that
that's a really big range.

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So that's as comparing a small
fish to the size of Manhattan.

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The thing that makes them
plant-like is that they have

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this pigment that allows them
to capture the sunlight

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and capture a little bit
of carbon dioxide

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that is in the atmosphere,

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and convert that into the--

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to sugars that now feed
marine food web.

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And while they're doing that,
they produce oxygen.

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They actually produce
50% of the oxygen on Earth.

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So if you think about it,

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they're like plant-like
things in the ocean.

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They're really, really important
because they produce oxygen,

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they feed the oceanic food web,
and they also control

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the flow of carbon
by capturing this carbon dioxide

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and moving into the sugars.

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- Who knew that something
so small could be so useful?

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Are all plankton helpful?

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- So phytoplankton
as a group are really good

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because they produce oxygen,
they feed the marine food web,

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and they control
the flow of the carbon.

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But some phytoplankton
have capabilities

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of producing toxins.

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And when there's lots of them
growing these toxins,

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which are pretty much poisons,

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they get accumulated
through that food web

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and ultimately has
a bad effect on us humans--

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we're the top predators--

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or other top predators
in the ocean,

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so think about seabirds,
dolphins and whales.

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That high diversity,
we can say that there's probably

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five or 10,000 species

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of different types
of phytoplankton.

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If they have a good
environmental condition,

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such as light and
enough nutrients,

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which are elements
that allow them to grow--

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think about fertilizers
in your garden--

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they will start
dividing and growing

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and making these things
that we call bloom.

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And some of these blooms
are not great.

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Some of these blooms are great.

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But they're really nice
for us to observe

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the connectivity
between this aqua sphere,

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the ocean and land
and atmosphere.

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- So it seems like
phytoplankton can have

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both a positive and
negative impact on Earth.

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How is it possible to see these
tiny creatures from space?

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What does the data from
the PACE mission look like?

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Let's see how math can help us
quantify and interpret

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the data from PACE.

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- So phytoplankton,
similar to the plants on land,

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carry a pigment
called chlorophyll.

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This chlorophyll is green
and allows them

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to do photosynthesis,
to convert carbon dioxide

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into the sugars that,
you know,

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feed the rest
of the marine food web.

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This green we can see
from space,

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and we can monitor the growth
of the phytoplankton from space.

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So as the phytoplankton grows,

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the amount
of chlorophyll changes.

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And so this change
in the amount of chlorophyll

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is indicative
of the change of the biomass.

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So the first day, we can have
100 cells of phytoplankton.

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Second day, we can have
200 cells of phytoplankton.

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Third day, we can have
400 cells of phytoplankton.

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And that means
the phytoplankton is growing.

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And it's going
to reach a plateau,

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a flat portion where
for a couple of days,

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we're going to see phytoplankton
having just 400 cells.

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It's either because
predators are eating them

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and controlling their growth,
or because

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there's no more nutrients,
the elements they need to grow.

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Eventually, we're going
to see this bloom disappear,

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and the chlorophylls are
going to start disappearing,

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which means their cell numbers
are going down.

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Probably because predators
are eating them,

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or they're just dying off
because there's not

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enough nutrients or food
for them to grow.

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- PACE's technology
extends our human senses.

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Let's take a look at the parts
of the satellite

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that enable us to see
what our eyes cannot

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by making
the invisible visible.

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- PACE mission
is NASA's mission

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to observe Earth
in unprecedented way.

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It gives us an opportunity
to see the world

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the way we've never
seen it before.

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PACE stands for Plankton,
Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem.

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And it kind of tells you
a little bit

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what PACE is really looking at.

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It's looking at
the ocean and atmosphere,

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but we can use it
to study the land and ice.

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The reason why we can do
such a great job at PACE

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is three instruments
that PACE is carrying.

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First one, it's called
Ocean Color Instrument,

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and it's an instrument
that allows us to see

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ocean and land
in a hyperspectral way.

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PACE can see
160 different colors.

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And that's pretty much
what PACE is allowing me

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and other scientists to do,
to draw the world

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in such a beautiful way
to understand and differentiate

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different features
in the ocean,

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different features
in the atmosphere and on land.

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The two small instruments
that we have on PACE

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are called polarimeters.

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They're SPEXone and HARP.

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They're looking at
the color of the light,

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but also the aspect of the light
that we call polarization.

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And the easiest way
to understand that,

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if you think about your
sunglasses that you have,

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and you look towards somewhere
and you tilt your head,

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the light is going
to start changing

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because it's filtering light
that is polarized,

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that is acting
in a different way.

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So what these instruments
are doing

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are looking at the color
of the light and polarization

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of the light, allowing us
to understand better

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the types of clouds
and aerosols,

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so different particles
we have in the atmosphere.

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- NASA's PACE mission is shining
a new light on phytoplankton,

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revealing their essential role
in supporting life on Earth.

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From oxygen production
to impacting the flow of carbon

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within Earth's systems,
these microscopic organisms

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are more powerful
than you may think.

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See you next time
on "Real World."

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[dramatic music]