How Google is Mapping 25 Years of Climate Change

This blog entry was originally posted on [acronym] Online, a blog and magazine dedicated to those in the public sector working within the 2D and 3D digital design, GIS, architecture and engineering disciplines.

In December of last year, Google released its new Google Earth Engine, an application created specifically with scientific research in mind. This new product provides an unprecedented 25 years of satellite images with the goal of enabling more precise climate modeling, based on change studies and mapping trends of the Earth’s environment with a principle focus on identifying areas of deforestation.

This short video does a great job explaining the goals and background of this ground-breaking project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnCf9Gjz720

Although the project is still in its testing phase, the impact it will eventually have on the work of climate researchers and environmental research groups will be huge. If they can achieve their goals with the help of this exciting new technology, then the impact on the lives and lifestyles of those who are under threat from environmental degradation, which in some way or shape is all of us, can be improved and our world can move one step closer to being cleaner and greener.

Advances in geospatial and mapping systems have helped fuel a number of efforts to make use of satellite, sensor and other data to more accurately map the Earth’s surface and environment, for the purposes of climate modeling.

Read the full article to see how Google has added to the emerging effort toward global climate modeling

http://gcn.com/articles/2010/12/03/google-earth-engine-climate-modeling.aspx?sc_lang=en