King - NASA s Earth Observatory & Visible Earth - Imagery ...Michael King M a y 7 , 2 0 0 38 Image Composite Editor (ICE) at icetool.nasa.gov • Build true-color & false-color composites

Michael King M a y 7 , 2 0 0 31

Presentation Overview❏ Brief tour of Earth Observatory & Visible Earth❏ Quantitative & qualitative feedback❏ Development plans & new directions❏ Other relevant activities

NASA’s Earth Observatory & Visible Earth: Imagery and Science on the Internet

Michael D. King, Robert B. Simmon and David D. HerringNASA Goddard Space Flight Center


❏ Data & Images• Timely, newsworthy imagery

posted as thumbnails, medium sized, and full-resolution

❏ Features• Current stories

❏ Breaking News❏ Missions❏ Experiments❏ Natural Hazards

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

“Direct-to-consumer” gateway


❏ Malaspina Glacier (largest glacier in Alaska)• Landsat 7 ETM+ image (31 August 2000)• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation map

Image of the day


❏ EOS Global Data Sets

What is new…

• The MODIS Blue Marble bluemarble.nasa.gov– Produced by Reto Stockli & Rob Simmon in

conjunction with the MODIS Science Team – Popular demand dramatically impacted GSFC

center network performance – Used by myriad government and commercial

entities

• New global data sets– MODIS Atmosphere products– CERES radiant energy fluxes – MODIS Land & Ocean products in progress

• Newly updated global data sets– TRMM Fire – TOMS surface UV exposure – TRMM & NCEP precipitation – SeaWiFS chlorophyll


❏ Natural Hazards sectionnaturalhazards.nasa.gov• Access to timely, newsworthy

imagery posted as thumbnails, medium sized, and sensors’ full-resolution

• Easily scalable to add info frommore missions

• New database of ~ 2.3K subscribers with daily e-mail notifications

• Now prototyping daily updated maps showing locations & severity

of hazards around the globe

What is new…


❏ Super Typhoon Fengshen


❏ Interactive learning modules• Mission: Biomes

– Interactive education module on land biome types

• Patterns of Change– Teaches about cause-and-

effect relationships using animated global data sets

• Investigating Aerosols (in progress)

– Teaches the impacts aerosolshave on climate & weather

What is new…


❏ Image Composite Editor (ICE) at icetool.nasa.gov• Build true-color & false-

color composites• Build scatter plots or

graphs of transects to look for correlations

• Perform histogram analyses

• Probe images to find unit values and lat-lon info per pixel

• Animate time-series images

• Perform math functions• Zoom & pan• Assign color palettes

What is new…


❏ New articles produced (roughly one per week) • 70 new Feature articles

– 39 internally written– 31 contributed by DAACs

• 29 new Reference articles❏ Much greater productivity in Newsroom

• Increase in postings of stories “In the Headlines”• More updates on “Field Missions” throughout NASA• Continued postings of “Media Alerts” from other organizations• Continued postings of “NASA News” Earth science releases from all NASA facilities• Continued postings of “Research Highlights” from NASA-funded Earth science

researchers• Newsroom cited by U.S. Global Change Research Program• Newsroom cited by the U.S. EPA as a source for climate change news

❏ A new image every day (7 days per week)• Added astronaut’s photos from space shuttle & ISS missions

What is new…


❏ NASA’s Visible Earthvisibleearth.nasa.gov• More than 1 million page views in

first month of operation• Currently averaging 68,811 page

views per day (more than 2 million per month)

• Goal is to become the comprehensive collection of NASA Earth images

• Provides 1-stop shopping• Images & animations stored at

fullest resolution (including HDTV)• Multiple search vectors• Streamlining & automating ingest

procedures• Objective is to link to all Goddard

VAL & SVS visualizations w/in next 12 months

What is new…


❏ Content Syndication• Communications partners & public

media can easily access and re-use, re-publish, or rebroadcast our

content

What is new…

Tokyo Science Museum “GeoCosmos” (~20-foot spherical TV)

National Museum of Natural History Forces of Change


❏ First published Earth Observatory on April 29, 1999• In February 2002, the Earth Observatory & Visible Earth were the #1 and #3 most popular Web sites at

GSFC, respectively

❏ Total page views: 30.2 million• 1st year: 4,130,222 (~ 11,315 per day)• 2nd year: 8,635,202 (~ 23,658 per day)• 3rd year: 6,523,670* (~ 21,459 per day*)• 4th year: 10,914,158 (~ 29,902 per day)

❏ Total global data sets served: 868,217 (~669 per day)• 1st year: 209,131 (~ 573 per day)• 2nd year: 255,228 (~ 699 per day)• 3rd year: 159,687* (~ 525 per day*)• 4th year: 244,171 (~ 669 per day)

❏ Total subscribers: currently 34,216 (~28 per day)• 1st year: 9,254 (~ 23 per day)• 2nd year: ~17,000 (~ 21 per day)• 3rd year: 23,940 (~ 19 per day)• 4th year: 34,216 (~ 28 per day)

Earth Observatory Statistics


❏ According to the Pew Research Center (June 11, 2000)1

• TV & newspaper audiences are dwindling while Internet use is rising dramatically

• 63% use the Internet to get updates on science & health, 59% get tech news, and 66% get their weather news on-line

• 27% who get news on-line say they follow sci & tech news very closely, compared to 14% off-line

Why the Web?

“The same demographic groups which are moving away from the nightly network news in the greatest numbers are some of the very same groups that are moving toward online news use at the highest rates — more affluent, more well-educated Americans.”

1) www.people-press.org


❏ The Pew Internet & American Life Project (June 2002)2:• Home use of high-speed Internet connections quadrupled over last 24

months—from 6 to 24 million Americans– Early adopters of broadband to the home are unmistakably producers and users of

all varieties of online information and applications. Broadband users value…greater and easier access to information, new capacities to generate it, and more control over it.

• 94% of youth ages 12-17 who have Internet access say they use it for school research; 71% used the Internet as a major resource for their most recent project or report

❏ According to the National Science Board (April 2002)3:• Among all media, the Internet is the preferred source when seeking info

about specific science issues like global warming – 44% rated the Internet highest, followed by books (24%), magazines (8%), television

(6%), & newspapers (4%)• Those with home Internet access harbor fewer reservations about science &

score significantly higher on science questions than those without

Why the Web?

2) www.pewinternet.org 3) www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind02/c0/c0s1.htm


❏ Received citations from the following organizations:• The National Science Foundation4

“Anyone who questions the value of the Internet as an Earth and space science education resource should visit NASA’s Earth Observatory. The Web site demonstrates how Internet and visualization technologies can serve as extraordinary resources for classroom studies, teacher professional development and informal education.”

• National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) (links from textbooks to 10 pages)

“A direct connection from a concept on the textbook page to materials exploring that concept in cyberspace leads readers to the kinds of materials our professional educators believe work best in the classroom. You are receiving this letter because one of your web pages was selected by our team of teachers who reviewed it using a stringent set of criteria that ensure selected materials have accurate content and effective pedagogy.”

• U.S. Global Change Research Program• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency5

Qualitative Feedback

4) www.EarthScienceEdRevolution.org 5) www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/car/index.html


❏ 2003 Webby Award nominee for “Education”❏ Webby People’s Voice Award 2002 winner for “Science”❏ Cited among Scientific American’s 50 Best Science &

Technology Web sites in 2002❏ Cited among Popular Science’s 50 Best Science & Technology

Web sites in 1999❏ Winner of the Society for Technical Communication’s Online

Communications Competition (both Washington, D.C., region & International)

❏ Recipient of NASA HQ’s Group Achievement Award in 2001❏ Recipient of NASA GSFC’s Public Service Group

Achievement Award in 2001

Awards & Accolades

Documents

King - NASA s Earth Observatory & Visible Earth - Imagery ...Michael King M a y 7 , 2 0 0 38 Image Composite Editor (ICE) at icetool.nasa.gov • Build true-color & false-color composites