Sci@Night

Move over, Google Earth

The wonders of Google Earth never cease to amaze, and, I’m pretty certain, could be blamed for an international productivity deficit that must be equal to the annual turnover of a few media savvy geek blogs. Over the past year, I’ve found myself checking out the roofing situation of each new apartment I’ve moved into (and there have been a few…) as well as enjoying virtual trips through the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Ecuador. Where the wünder-map fails, however, is in it’s lack of real-time information.

At the time of the Tsunami, there were regular satellite updates both on Google’s databases and others. They were posted especially to highlight the devastation that occurred. But the world’s geography is in a constant state of dynamism and Google Earth just can’t quite keep up on a day to day basis. What’s needed is a service providing regularly updated satellite images of the world so that you, the armchair Marco Polo, can explore everything from tropical storms off Japan to bare ski-slopes in the French Alps.

Thankfully, the European Space Agency has launched exactly that:

“ESA designed MIRAVI [MERIS Images RApid VIsualisation] so that the public could have access to daily views of Earth. Naturally, scientists are already familiar with these data, but we thought these images would be interesting to everyone. Seeing the most recently acquired images of the planet will allow people to witness the magnificent beauty of Earth and become more knowledgeable about the environment,” said the ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes Volker Liebig…

…Envisat [the world’s largest Earth Observation satellite] circles the Earth in a polar orbit at an 800-km altitude, allowing MERIS to acquire global coverage every three days. MERIS measures the solar radiation reflected by the Earth, which means the sun must be present for MERIS to produce an image. Because the sun is low over Nordic areas during winter, images of Scandinavia, for example, are not currently available, except through the archive. The situation will reverse, however, from March onwards, and images of the area will be acquired daily. In contrast, Antarctica is visible for the next two months.

To access this fun new tool, head here:

[Observing The Earth]

Have fun trying to find that field you accidentally set light to last week!

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