Hurricane hunters are the “eyes in the sky” for those studying and forecasting hurricanes. The folks over at the Google Earth Blog describe how you can follow live hurricane recon missions, or see the results from recent missions using Google Earth. Check it out.
For more information about hurricane hunters see:
The Physical Environment Textbook links: Hurricanes
Hurricane Hunters
Courtesy Discovery News
Description provided by the site: “Compare historical images to learn about deforestation of the Amazon.
Use images from the past 30 years to compare the difference in forest coverage in the Amazon forest of Brazil, courtesy of the United Nation Environment Programme’s Atlas of Our Changing Environment layer in the “Global Awareness” folder in the “Layers” Panel in Google Earth.”
The World Wide Web has become an exciting platform to share geoscience information with professional colleagues and the public. In this Google Tech Talk from December 18, 2007 John E. Bailey, Alaska Volcano Observatory & Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks discuss his use of Google Earth to study volcanoes. Description from the site:
“Volcanoes are some of the most dynamic and visually spectacular natural features on the Earth’s surface. In Alaska, volcanoes are an intrinsic part of the landscape and culture, with over 70 volcanoes and volcanic fields that have been active in historic time. Monitoring of these volcanoes is undertaken by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) using a suite of methods and tools in the fields of remote sensing, seismology, geodesy and geology that produce large volumes of geospatial data. The evolution in the capabilities of Google Earth and KML has provided a user-friendly interface and information-rich context in which these data can be displayed simultaneously and dynamically, offering new possibilities for communications with other scientists, emergency managers and the general public. I will present an overview of AVO’s operations, and demonstrate our, and the wider volcanological community’s use of Google Earth. “
Other Google Tech Talks are here.
The Google Earth Gallery links you to a number geoscience-related Google Earth layers. For instance, the Global Paleogeographic Views layer lets you view the changing configuration of the earth’s surface from the Late Precambrian to the present.
Public-interest groups and individuals are using Google Earth to bring a valuable geographic context to important issues. Check out the Google Earth Outreach Showcase for issues concerning climate change, disappearing forests, land use assessment and more.
Keep up-to-date with new cool Google Earth layers by reading the Google Earth Blog.
