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[cheerful music] Argueta: Hello and welcome to Snack Time with NASA!

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My name is Jocelyn Argueta and today I am going to prepare one of my favorite dishes,

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the Peruvian ceviche.

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What many people don't know about NASA is that we play an important role

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in helping keep fisheries healthy using satellite data.

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With that data, scientists can look at something like the color of the ocean

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nd determine the health and condition of different fish populations,

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like this white fish I'm going to use today.

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To tell us about all this, I am accompanied by Laura Lorenzoni,

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a scientist in the Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry program at NASA headquarters.

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Hello Laura how are you?


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Lorenzoni: Hi, Jocelyn. How are you?


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Argueta: Very well,  thanks for joining us.

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First of all, tell me how you like ceviche.


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Lorenzoni:  I love it. My husband makes it with mango and it is absolutely delicious.


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Very good. So first of all, tell me a little about why

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NASA studies the ocean and what does that have to do with ceviche.


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Lorenzoni: You know that 17% of the world's population depends on the ocean for their daily protein,

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and we want to make sure that our marine resources are being maintained,

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not just for us, but for our future populations.

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Since the sea covers two thirds of our planet,

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it is also important to make sure that we

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are using it well and it plays a fundamental role in our climate.

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The ocean absorbs heat

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and through ocean currents, redistributes it around the rest of the planet,

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but as the climate changes, our ocean also changes, that is why it is very important to observe it,

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because those changes can also impact fishing.


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NASA's mission is really to understand how the earth works as a global system.


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Argueta: Sure, a whole system. I know that NASA observes the color of the ocean from space, right? What does that mean?


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Lorenzoni:  It means exactly what you hear, what color is the water.

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The color of our waters is impacted by what is dissolved or what is suspended in it.

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Satellites work just like our eyes work and we can see if there is something different about the color of the water.

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For example, if we see a large patch or large areas of green,


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we can assume that it is a very healthy population of phytoplankton.

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Now what does phytoplankton eat? Zooplankton,

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and what eats zooplankton? The little fish.

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Who eats the little fish? The largest fish.


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You understand more or less how everything is connected,

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Other times we can also see what we call red tides,

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which are expansions of phytoplankton, which in this case is toxic because they produce toxins.

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In coastal areas, where many people go, this can be a problem for the local health,

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not only for people but also for ecosystems.

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Argueta: Yes, how interesting that the color of the ocean gives us so much information.

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What impact does observing ocean color and ecosystem health have on fisheries?

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Lorenzone: It all comes back to the phytoplankton.

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Fisheries, fish depend on phytoplankton which is the base of the food chain.

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It also helps us understand where the fish may be, because of course

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e depend on the fish that are caught to be able to consume them.

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We know that fish have favorite areas,

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o we can use other data such as sea surface temperature or sea height

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to know in which areas the fish may find themselves to get food.


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All of our data is free and open to the public.

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Therefore, we love that people use them.

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Our users vary widely, from the scientists

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who generate these algorithms and other research,

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but also to the general public. We have non-profit organizations,


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private entities, educators, children.

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We love it when people really leverage NASA data to better understand,

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protect, and sustainably use our ocean.

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Argueta: Yes, it seems like a very important investigation, since we are so dependent on the ocean.

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Lorenzoni: Our ocean is giant, it is 70% of our planet.

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No por nada llamamos a nuestro planeta, "Nuestro planeta azul."

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We are all interconnected with the ocean. Did you know

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that at least half of the oxygen we breathe comes from the sea generated by phytoplankton and other seaweed?


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it's important to remember that we are all interconnected

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and whatever I do in the Earth -- for example,


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where I put my waste or the fertilizers that I put on the land,

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all of that in some way or another, eventually reaches the ocean through our rivers that connect the continent to the ocean

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and from the coastal area, which is a area where there is a lot of population, that eventually reaches the open ocean.

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The ocean also plays an important role in regulating the earth's climate,

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It not only absorbs heat, as I mentioned, and redistributes it, but it also absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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The fact that the ocean has absorbed so much carbon dioxide in the last 100 years

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has helped our climate change to slow down a lot.

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Without the ocean our temperatures would be much higher

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and at NASA we have been studying the role that the ocean has in climate change,

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especially trying to understand what is this connection between human influences and how our planet has been changing,

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and one of the missions in which we are working, which is the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystems

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or PACE mission by its acronym in English, it will help us, it is a new mission,

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it is hyperspectral, which means that we are seeing more

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colors of the ocean than we can see right now. It is going to be truly revolutionary

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nd it will allow us to better understand what kind of phytoplankton is there.

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I talked about the phytoplankton that feed the fish,

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but we also have the phytoplankton that generates toxins and right now it's a bit difficult for us to distinguish between the two.

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With PACE facing the ocean it will really allow us to exploit that information of colors that our ocean gives us.

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Argueta: Yes, sure. Who would have thought that satellites in space would have

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so much to do with getting this fish to prepare a dish like ceviche?

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Lorenzoni: Satellites, again, because our planet is so big and we have so many oceans, they play a critical role in

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really being able to observe the changes that occur day by day and those that occur in the long term.


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This is important because it allows us to be better prepared for the changes to come.

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Argueta: That's where food safety comes in as well, right?

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Lorenzoni: Exactly. In fact, one of the fisheries in Costa Rica is part of the PACE Data Early Adoption Program,

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which means that before they launch PACE they are ready to incorporate this type of data

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into local fisheries.

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We are truly very fortunate to have the support of scientists and users

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who are always pushing the limits of what our age and our technology can do.

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Argueta:  Incredible. A lot is being done right now in the world of ocean monitoring

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and this ceviche is almost ready,

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but we can't forget about the tiger's milk, of course.

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[sound of pouring liquid]

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To put together the plate I'm just going to put some sweet potato slices, a little lettuce,

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and a few spoonfuls of ceviche.

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A little chopped onion, coriander-

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Lorenzoni: And the mango!

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Argueta: -and the mango. Here we go, it looks delicious. [laughs]

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Thank you very much. Hopefully people can thank you enough for being here with us.

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Cheers for this ceviche, for all the science it takes for lunch today,


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and also for how the ocean and terrestrial systems are connected.

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Lorenzoni: Thank you Jocelyn. A pleasure.

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Argueta: Thank you.

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Lorenzoni: Now I want ceviche.

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Argueta: [laughs] I'll give it to you there.

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Thank you for joining us today, I wish you learned a lot about the ocean and now it is time for lunch. Bon Appetite.

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[music fades]