HR: 11:35h
AN: IN42A-06 [Abstracts]
TI: Google Earth as a Vehicle to Integrating Multiple Layers of Environmental Satellite Data for Weather and Science Applications
AU: * Turk, F J
EM: joe.turk@nrlmry.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Laboratory
Marine Meteorology Division, 7 Grace Hopper Ave, Monterey, CA 93943, United States
AU: Miller, S D
EM: miller@cira.colostate.edu
AF: Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO 80523, United States
AB:
One of the main challenges facing current and future environmental satellite systems (e.g, the future National
Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)) is reaching and entraining the diverse user community
via communication of how these systems address their particular needs. A necessary element to meeting this
challenge is effective data visualization: facilitating the display, animation and layering of multiple satellite
imaging and sounding sensors (providing complementary information) in a user-friendly and intuitive fashion. In
light of the fact that these data are rapidly making their way into the classroom owing to efficient and timely data
archival systems and dissemination over the Internet, there is a golden opportunity to leverage existing
technology to introduce environmental science to wide spectrum of users.
Google Earth’s simplified interface and underlying markup language enables access to detailed global
geographic information, and contains features which are both desirable and advantageous for geo-referencing
and combining a wide range of environmental satellite data types. Since these satellite data are available with a
variety of horizontal spatial resolutions (tens of km down to hundreds of meters), the imagery can be sub-setted
(tiled) at a very small size. This allows low-bandwidth users to efficiently view and animate a sequence of
imagery while zoomed out from the surface, whereas high-bandwidth users can efficiently zoom into the finest
image resolution when viewing fine-scale phenomena such as fires, volcanic activity, as well as the details of
meteorological phenomena such as hurricanes, rainfall, lightning, winds, etc. Dynamically updated network links
allow for near real-time updates such that these data can be integrated with other Earth-hosted applications and
exploited not only in the teaching environment, but also for operational users in the government and private
industry sectors.
To conceptualize how environmental satellite data would be utilized within a geobrowser in a near real-time
setting, we present a demonstration from the 2007 hurricane season, developed within the Google Earth
framework. A menu of imagery based sequential satellite overpasses (GOES and other geostationary satellites,
TRMM, CloudSat, Terra, Aqua, DMSP, NOAA, QuikScat) during the storm lifecycle, are presented to the Earth client
in an structured folder format. The remapping of these satellite data follows the hurricane track, enabling the
user to view, animate, zoom, overlay and combine visible, infrared and passive microwave imagery and combine
with other data (surface reports, forecasts, surface winds, ground and spaceborne radars, etc.) at various stages
of the hurricane lifecycle. Pop-up balloons provide training that explains the properties and capabilities of the
satellite datasets and what components of the underlying weather are represented. Future satellite overpass
tracks are provided so that the user can anticipate imagery updates several days in advance (e.g., as a hurricane
approaches landfall). This combination of geo-navigable data provides a convenient framework for efficiently
demonstrating meteorological, oceanographic and weather and climate concepts to students, planners, and the
public at large.
UR: http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/NEXSAT.html
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 1640 Remote sensing (1855)
DE: 3374 Tropical meteorology
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
SC: Earth and Space Science Informatics [IN]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting