Ocean Biology & Biogeochemistry
NASA boosts the U.S. Economy and inspires our next generation,
and the ocean is our next frontier!
The Ocean
Biology and Biogeochemistry (OBB) Program is an essential piece
of this enterprise, providing critical insights for
understanding how the ocean works, from ecosystem function to
economic links and resilience to future change, and provides
foundational knowledge towards space exploration and inspiration
for all generations. Smart investments in ocean remote sensing
now will result in multiplicative effects in the future across
all sectors; by 2030, the potential economic value of Earth
observations could exceed $700 billion globally. Better data
means better decisions, solutions, and innovations. With a share
of the US budget of less than 0.5%, NASA returns billions in
economic output across all states and territories, detailed by
region below.
Exploration and Inspiration
From luscious islands to delicate sea-ice environments, shallow
and productive ocean waters to unexplored depths, all the way to
remote frozen ocean worlds in our solar system, we fund research
that is foundational and nearly limitless. The groundbreaking
science OBB supports looks at the vast landscapes of our blue
planet and furthers the understanding of how life may exist
elsewhere. Within this framework, anything is possible.
Investments for in situ and space-based technology are not only
critical to advance our understanding of life on Earth and in our
solar system, but also represent an extension of the human
imagination.
The study of Earth’s ocean and its extreme environment presents profound possibilities to understand suitability for life. Ice environments, hydrothermal vents, and other unique environments remain severely understudied on Earth and present opportunities to develop new technology, including quantum sensing, that give us unprecedented insights into the functioning of ecosystems here and across the solar system.
The study of Earth’s ocean and its extreme environment presents profound possibilities to understand suitability for life. Ice environments, hydrothermal vents, and other unique environments remain severely understudied on Earth and present opportunities to develop new technology, including quantum sensing, that give us unprecedented insights into the functioning of ecosystems here and across the solar system.