Click here to view this photo book larger
Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Mapping the Earth: The View from the Top - a Polar Perspective
The View from the Top
Quick Cut & Paste:
There have been many images of the full disc of Earth from space—a view often referred to as “the Blue Marble”—but few have looked quite like this. Using natural-color images from the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the recently launched Suomi-NPP satellite, a NASA scientist has compiled a new view showing the Arctic and high latitudes.
Source:
Ocean scientist Norman Kuring of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center pieced together this composite image of Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the entire Arctic. It was compiled from 15 satellite passes made by Suomi-NPP on May 26, 2012. The spacecraft circles the Earth from pole to pole at an altitude of 824 kilometers (512 miles), so it takes multiple passes to gather enough data to show an entire hemisphere without gaps in the view.
Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS
- VIIRS is a scanning radiometer that acquires data in 22 spectral bands, covering visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It was designed to extend and improve upon the measurements of land masses, oceans, ice, and the atmosphere made over the past two decades by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
Full Credits:
Image & text taken from NASA's Earth Observatory site.
Image by Norman Kuring, NASA/GSFC/Suomi NPP. Caption by Michael Carlowicz. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense.
Further Reading:
- NASA Suomi NPP Images and Data.
- NASA Earth Observatory Earth, Behind the Scenes.
- NASA Ocean Color Web.
Mapping the 2012 Election - Win Scenarios by Electoral State
Neat interactive pictorial display of potential scenarios for the 2012 Presidential race.
I particularly like the "rescrambling" of electoral wins to outplay certain voting events...
Full credits to the New York Times Politics e-page for "Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory".
Full credits to the New York Times Politics e-page for "Electoral Map: Building a Path to Victory".
Mapping a Mars Landing - T-40 days to the Red Planet
Mapping a new type of Mars landing sequence- brilliant engineering "madness". T-40 days till touchdown on the Red Planet on 5 August.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Mapping Valentine's Day - Bonne's Projection
Happy Valentine's Day - link to Bonne's Projection.
From Wikipedia:
A Bonne projection is a pseudoconical equal-area map projection, sometimes called a dépôt de la guerre or a Sylvanus projection. Although named after Rigobert Bonne (1727–1795), the projection was in use prior to his birth, in 1511 by Sylvano, Honter in 1561, De l'Isle before 1700 and Coronelli in 1696[1].
The projection is:
Parallels of latitude are concentric circular arcs, and the scale is true along these arcs. On the central meridian and the standard latitude shapes are not distorted.
Special cases of the Bonne projection include the sinusoidal projection, when φ1 is zero, and the Werner projection, when φ1 is π/2. The Bonne projection can be seen as an intermediate projection in the unwinding of a Werner projection into a Sinusoidal projection; an alternative intermediate would be a Bottomley projection[3]
Friday, February 10, 2012
Mapping Dance Moves - Step By Step for Pulp Fiction & Napoleon Dynamite
Found this one from FlowingData, made me think of Maroon 5's recent song "Moves like Jagger". If you want to take on some "cult classic" moves from Pulp Fiction and Napoleon Dynamite ... read on.
Full credits to Niege Borges - buy his prints here.
Full credits to Niege Borges - buy his prints here.
Mapping the Earth - Blue Marble v.2.0
Another stunning image from NASA's Earth Oberservatory site. The below highlights and links documents the imagery collection.
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" .... The image above, of Earth’s eastern hemisphere, was built from data collected by the Suomi NPP satellite, which flies in a polar orbit at an altitude of 824 kilometers (512 miles). The perspective of this new image, however, is from 12,743 kilometers (7,918 miles) above a point at 10 degrees South latitude and 45 degrees East longitude."
".....Kuring managed to “step back” from Earth by combining data from six separate orbits Suomi NPP made on January 23, 2012. The natural-color images come from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the satellite. The four vertical lines of haze are caused by sunglint, the reflection of sunlight off the ocean."
"The graphic above illustrates how separate images in red, green, and blue wavelengths are combined to make natural-color imagery, and how multiple, adjacent swaths—slices of Earth viewed on each satellite pass—get built into a composite. The width of the swaths covered by each pass of VIIRS is about 3,001 kilometers (1,865 miles)...."
Full article - click here
Credits:
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" .... The image above, of Earth’s eastern hemisphere, was built from data collected by the Suomi NPP satellite, which flies in a polar orbit at an altitude of 824 kilometers (512 miles). The perspective of this new image, however, is from 12,743 kilometers (7,918 miles) above a point at 10 degrees South latitude and 45 degrees East longitude."
".....Kuring managed to “step back” from Earth by combining data from six separate orbits Suomi NPP made on January 23, 2012. The natural-color images come from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the satellite. The four vertical lines of haze are caused by sunglint, the reflection of sunlight off the ocean."
"The graphic above illustrates how separate images in red, green, and blue wavelengths are combined to make natural-color imagery, and how multiple, adjacent swaths—slices of Earth viewed on each satellite pass—get built into a composite. The width of the swaths covered by each pass of VIIRS is about 3,001 kilometers (1,865 miles)...."
Full article - click here
Credits:
Image by NASA/NOAA. Caption by Aries Keck and Mike Carlowicz. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense.
- Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Mapping the Republican Delegate count - A Race to 1144
Here is a good link to the Republican Delegate count race to 1144 - the number required to win the GOP nomination.
Watch this space .... the interactive "play historical gains by state" make it a neat way to monitor change is delegate voting preferences by candidate & region of the country.
Watch this space .... the interactive "play historical gains by state" make it a neat way to monitor change is delegate voting preferences by candidate & region of the country.
NY Times - Republican Delagate countTaken from the NY Times Politics section for the 2012 election.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Mapping the Goldilocks Zone - the Precious Atmospheres of Three Planets
Everyone remembers the college "urban legend" of a competitive major's first freshman class, where the Professor standing from a podium before an audience of "wide-eyed" students, almost proudly boasts a sneering threat on their probability of academic failure.
It goes something like ... "For those of you freshman just accepted to [insert your prestigious University name here]'s elite major in [insert Engineering, Pre-Med, Physics or similar rigorous speciality here], I offer a prediction. It is based on historical fact. Look to the left of you, look to the right of you. [Insert choice of 'impending doom' exclusion - One, Both or All] of you will not be here at graduation."
Perhaps surprisingly, this never made me think of the value of a good education, or even the value of a good teacher (possibly because for "my undergrad" I went to Penn State, joined a fraternity, and arguably majored in beer). But it did make me think of how lucky we are to have a planet is the "Goldilocks Zone". It's the "precious place in cosmic space" which resolves the childrens' story conundrum of "not too hot & not too cold"; a planetary zone that can support life as we know it.
This recent graphic from the UNEP/GRID-Arendal again reminded me of this blessing, our planetary orbital 'cradle' that brought us here today.
In layman's terms, to one side of Earth, we have a "freeze-dried" planet, Mars - also called the red planet from its reddish appearance yet almost inspite of its prevailing surface temperatures. Martian surface temperatures vary from lows of about −87 °C (−125 °F) during the polar winters to highs of up to −5 °C (23 °F) in summers. Summary: Too cold.
To the other side, Venus. While named for a goddess of beauty, it might as well be called the "microwave" planet. Also once called Earth's "sister" planet, it has an atmosphere that releases so little of the sun's energy that its effectively "overcooked", with an almost constant surface temperatures of over 460 °C (860 °F). Summary: Too hot.
An there in "the middle" is our beautiful, brilliant "blue marble" of Earth, hanging in the same cold void of space yet somehow teaming with life. Just right!
Now when I "look left, look right" on a planetary scale, I see what we as humans must avoid "at home" and also the future opportunity to "travel abroad". Venus stands as a global warning of atmospheric change, loudly proclaiming "beware your fragile atmosphere". While Mars is a potential path of planetary colonization in the future - for if humans know one thing, its how to warm a place up! Still a foreboding message, but one I like to ponder (often with a beer) & smile.
Full credits:
<><>
It goes something like ... "For those of you freshman just accepted to [insert your prestigious University name here]'s elite major in [insert Engineering, Pre-Med, Physics or similar rigorous speciality here], I offer a prediction. It is based on historical fact. Look to the left of you, look to the right of you. [Insert choice of 'impending doom' exclusion - One, Both or All] of you will not be here at graduation."
Perhaps surprisingly, this never made me think of the value of a good education, or even the value of a good teacher (possibly because for "my undergrad" I went to Penn State, joined a fraternity, and arguably majored in beer). But it did make me think of how lucky we are to have a planet is the "Goldilocks Zone". It's the "precious place in cosmic space" which resolves the childrens' story conundrum of "not too hot & not too cold"; a planetary zone that can support life as we know it.
This recent graphic from the UNEP/GRID-Arendal again reminded me of this blessing, our planetary orbital 'cradle' that brought us here today.
In layman's terms, to one side of Earth, we have a "freeze-dried" planet, Mars - also called the red planet from its reddish appearance yet almost inspite of its prevailing surface temperatures. Martian surface temperatures vary from lows of about −87 °C (−125 °F) during the polar winters to highs of up to −5 °C (23 °F) in summers. Summary: Too cold.
To the other side, Venus. While named for a goddess of beauty, it might as well be called the "microwave" planet. Also once called Earth's "sister" planet, it has an atmosphere that releases so little of the sun's energy that its effectively "overcooked", with an almost constant surface temperatures of over 460 °C (860 °F). Summary: Too hot.
An there in "the middle" is our beautiful, brilliant "blue marble" of Earth, hanging in the same cold void of space yet somehow teaming with life. Just right!
Now when I "look left, look right" on a planetary scale, I see what we as humans must avoid "at home" and also the future opportunity to "travel abroad". Venus stands as a global warning of atmospheric change, loudly proclaiming "beware your fragile atmosphere". While Mars is a potential path of planetary colonization in the future - for if humans know one thing, its how to warm a place up! Still a foreboding message, but one I like to ponder (often with a beer) & smile.
Full credits:
| Sources | Calvin, J. Hamilton, Views of the Solar System, www.planetscapes.com; Bill Arnett, The nine planets: a multimedia tour of the solar system, www.seds.org/billa/tnp/nineplanets.html |
| Link to web-site | http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/climate/page/3056.aspx |
| Cartographer/ Designer | Philippe Rekacewicz, UNEP/GRID-Arendal |
| Appears in | Vital Climate Graphics |
| Published | 2000 |
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Mapping Equinoxes - Understanding Seasonal Change from a Perspective in space
This is both a nice textual and visual explanation of the changes in season.
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" ....One of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in science is the reason for Earth’s seasons. As we experience the September equinox today .... we thought we’d offer a space-based view of what’s going on.... The shape of this line between night and day varies with the seasons, which means different lengths of days and differing amounts of warming sunshine...."
"....Of course, it is not the Sun that is moving north or south through the seasons, but a change in the orientation and angles between the Earth and its nearest star. The axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane. The axis is tilted away from the Sun at the December solstice and toward the Sun at the June solstice, spreading more and less light on each hemisphere. At the equinoxes, the tilt is at a right angle to the Sun and the light is spread evenly...."
Full article link - click here
Full Credits:
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" ....One of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in science is the reason for Earth’s seasons. As we experience the September equinox today .... we thought we’d offer a space-based view of what’s going on.... The shape of this line between night and day varies with the seasons, which means different lengths of days and differing amounts of warming sunshine...."
"....Of course, it is not the Sun that is moving north or south through the seasons, but a change in the orientation and angles between the Earth and its nearest star. The axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane. The axis is tilted away from the Sun at the December solstice and toward the Sun at the June solstice, spreading more and less light on each hemisphere. At the equinoxes, the tilt is at a right angle to the Sun and the light is spread evenly...."
Full article link - click here
Full Credits:
- NASA images and animation by Robert Simmon, using data ©2010 EUMETSAT. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.
- Instrument:
- Meteosat
- Stern, D. (2005) From Stargazers to Starships: Seasons of the Year. Accessed September 22, 2011.
- U.S. Naval Observatory Day and Night Across the Earth. Accessed September 22, 2011.
- U.S. Naval Oceanographer Earth's Seasons. Accessed September 22, 2011.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)