ESA's Earth Observation Programmes: Advancing Earth Science Through New Sensing Technology

psilvestrinArticles, Earth Observation, Original, Technology

GFS 6z showing a strong hurricane of 974mb pushing into South Carolina.

Antenna DetailThe European Space Agency (ESA) has dedicated a substantial part of its programmes to observing the Earth since the launch of its first meteorological mission Meteosat in 1977. Following this mission, the subsequent series of Meteosat satellites, the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions and, more recently, Envisat, the largest Earth observation (EO) satellite ever built, have provided a wealth of data about the Earth, its climate and changing environment.

A Global Search Engine For Geospatial Data

supsonArticles, Climate, Earth Observation, GEO/GEOSS News, Original

The TRMM satellite passed over Irene when it was a tropical storm on Aug. 21, 2011. Data collected with this orbit showed that Irene contained numerous powerful thunderstorms with TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) revealing that some thunderstorm towers near the center of the storm were reaching to heights above 15 km (~9.3 miles). Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

NOAA BuoyIf you’re a scientist or engineer cobbling together a geospatial project, say you’re trying to figure out how many people would be threatened by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a truism holds that you spend 80 percent of the time hunting down usable data. The data, when they exist at all, often are archived in incompatible formats, have varying degrees of accuracy and precision, and sometimes require a good deal of political savvy to find.

Earth Observation in the Met Office

EarthzineArticles, Climate, Earth Observation, Original, Sections, Technology, Weather

Met Office

The United Kingdom’s Met Office is one of the world’s leading providers of environmental and weather-related services. Our solutions and services meet the needs of many communities of interest, from the general public, government and schools, through broadcasters and online media, to civil aviation and almost every other industry sector – in the UK and around the world. It is also home to the Hadley Centre for climate research.

A Look Back at Fifty Years of the Space Age

EarthzineArticles, Earth Observation, Feature, In This Issue, Original, Sections

The noted British astronomer Fred Hoyle predicted shortly after the launch of Sputnik in October, 1957 that when we humans could obtain a picture of Earth from deep space, life here would never be the same. This was a time in history when the average Westerner’s concept of the universe was hardly more sophisticated than “God in the heavens, man in the middle and everything else below.” That is to say that only a very few scientists had foresight as to the extent and complexity of the cosmos that would be revealed following the arrival of the space age and its modern technologies.

How Google Earth Images Are Made

Shane PearlmanEarth Observation

The Google Librarian Central site has up a piece by Mark Aubin, a Software Engineer who works on Google Earth. Aubin explains some of the process behind capturing satellite imagery for use with the product. ‘Most people are surprised to learn that we have more than one source for our imagery. We collect it via airplane and satellite, but also … Read More

Sounds Bring Google Earth to Life

Shane PearlmanEarth Observation, Original

The BBC is reporting that a Californian company has created software that can layer relevant recorded sounds over locations in Google Earth. The firm, Wild Sanctuary, has thousands of hours of recordings from all over the world. Company director Dr. Krause has spent over 40 years collecting sounds from natural and man-made habitats. ‘… his recordings include more than 15,000 … Read More