This week NASA released what it calls “the most amazing high definition of earth” ever taken — a shot snapped on January 4th from the agency’s newest satellite.
The satellite, which is a joint project between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was launched last October to collect more detailed data about earth’s atmosphere and oceans, while also enhancing climate forecasting capabilities.
The next generation of climate and weather satellites are scheduled for launch in 2017. However, some onlookers are concerned that government underfunding of satellite programs make the future of projects like this uncertain.
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Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Neil de Grasse Tyson about NASA’s funding (and Climate Change)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IsTM5qRER8&list=PLFD7405738BEF8E14&context=C3d9bc19ADOEgsToPDskKfCui_OisXST4ZJuOjiNrb
Something to mention. It’s January. Where are all the snow and clouds?
The green belt around the equator is likely to undergo huge changes in the next decades and it will take some time till species migrate to higher latitudes. And many can not shift fast enough, and this will throw the entire biodiversity into turmoil.
With growing ozone depletion (methane -> water vapor or ozone-eating nitrogen oxides plus the usual suspects) living things will have a hard time to adapt to these latitudes, let alone time scales beyond centuries and millenia. The threat of growing UVB and UVC radiation which comes with ozone depletion, is underestimated and yet to be quantified.
Doc. says UVA causes eye damage and can bounce off pavement so someone sitting in the shade can get a dose. Long term exposure can cause lasting damage.
UVA can bounce off the sides of the big and tall clouds. You can’t see it and you should ware sunglasses that reflect UV rays.
Ever heard of blank contact lenses that just reflect UV rays. Maybe better than regular sunglasses cause there would still be tightening of the lens with just clear contact lenses that reflect UV rays.
Just a thought.
UV absorbing contact lenses are available without prescription correction and are recommended with regular sunglasses to block the vision loss associated with cumulative eye exposure to UV rays.
Bicyclists could get some eye protection that way.
New to me was the high exposure effects in the shade and not even looking in the direction of the sun.
pretty sharp; pun intended.
Imagine using photos like this to show accelerating climate change and hopefully — in the not too distant future and before it’s too late — extraordinary restoration of our beautiful home
I wonder why NASA did not released a high resolution earth 3D framework yet :)
yes, nasa should have access to some pretty amazing imaging and modeling technology for analyzing this planet, even in realtime; a portfolio of incredible tools to restore the planet for humanity and life on earth;
the scale of this stuff is totally mindblowing . . . probably enough to distract the deniers and those clinging to the past . . . to look forward to the possibilities and wonders of an amazing future; and, help make it happen; an epic adventure of truly biblical proportions.
Big tropical cyclone Funso off the coast of Mozambique yesterday, from our Terra satellite.
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go.nasa.gov/AtVscu
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@NASA
Two things about the image:
1.) It’s a composite of many shots, thus why the exposure is a little too perfect looking. It’s a construction.
2.) It could just be an optical illusion because of the sphere, but N. America looks way too big.
Here, look at N.America in this Google Earth construction. Much smaller looking.
http://www.stonybrook.edu/libmap/coordinates/seriesb/no12/earth.png
It’s less than a hemisphere, so N. America looks large. If the picture were taken from the distance of the moon, then an entire hemisphere is seen and N. America looks smaller. It’s just visual perspective.
It’s beautiful. I love it without mans lines and dots and words all over it. If only ….
Thanks for the picture. What is the name of the satellite and what is its payload? (For example, the satellite Terra had MODIS, MISR, CERES, ASTER & MOPITT, all with specific function). Is the equipment going to track aerosols and is it a step up from MODIS? Is there a webpage where the data can be retrieved? Thanks if you know!
Robots with solar collector skin could recharge without having to be connected to the biochar electricity plant.
The robots go to gather biochar material and to dump the biochar once it is manufactured. A thought of how the atmosphere could be worked with even if people were otherwise busy with hiding in shelters.
The satellite in question is named Suomi-NPP (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project). The payload will continue with CERES (Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System – is also on Terra/Aqua). The images come from VIIRS (The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite). The satellite also contains devices that track temperature, pressure, and moisture. There is also ozone mapping instrumentation (Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite – OMPS). Data products are listed here: http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/DataProducts.html. I can’t tell if they are available.
More interesting (to me) images from the new satellite are available from http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/sciencecollection.html.
I wondered about the name. It has nothing to do with Finland, as I first suspected. Here’s the answer.
In case somebdoy likes to have some wallpapers, i made a couple versions with different takes…
http://climateprogress.net/en/climate-progress-network-gallery/prokaryotes/album.html?albumid=1