To ensure the success of observing processes and mechanisms vital to understanding current and future ocean ecosystems and carbon cycle processes, NASA lead a large-scale field campaign, EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing, EXPORTS. A central objective for EXPORTS is to establish relationships between the satellite-sensed optical properties and biological properties of phytoplankton relevant to the export of carbon to the deep ocean. Using NASA’s CALIOP and HSRL and NOAA’s Oceanographic lidar, we demonstrated that space based lidar observations can greatly enhance remote sensing capabilities for global carbon export measurements.