Eyes on the Earth 3D

July 4, 2010

By STEVE KLIEWER

What a fantastic ride!

Thursday night, Kevin Hussey, Manager of JPL’s Visualization Technology Group, introduced innovative technology to a fascinated group of science educators and enthusiasts.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA have produced a way to “fly along” with NASA’s fleet of Earth-Observing satellites. Hussey gave a clear and exciting introduction to the many uses of this tool, as well as an interesting outline of the technical difficulties they experienced in its development.

The demonstration was sponsored by Cal Poly, NASA, the Central Coast Science Project, and the Center for Excellence in Science and Math Education.

This powerful fly along” masquerades as a full-featured digital game with all the interactivity and rich graphics of the best games on the market. In a stunning visualization, it provides a detailed analysis of the vast array of images and data that NASA is accumulating about our planet.

To experience this exciting new way to see our planet visit: http://climate.nasa.gov and select “Eyes on the Earth 3D.”  You have never before seen our planet as a dynamic system with such clarity and detail.

Kevin’s talk was followed by a short presentation by Dr. Ray Weymann who discussed the relevance of these visualizations to Climate Science.  The monthly and yearly fluctuations of fresh water and the regional sources and distributions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were particularly sharp and alarming.

The following photo gallery is by Dennis Eamon Young. See more of the photographers work at www.DennisEamonYoungPhoto.com.

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Steve Kleiwer is Director of the Endeavour Institute.