Online Resource: NASA, Partners Offer Global View of Environmental Changes via an Expanded Earth Observing Dashboard

From NASA:

Continuing the collaboration that produced the COVID-19 Earth Observing Dashboard in 2020, NASA and its international partners in Europe and Japan have combined the collective scientific power of their Earth-observing satellite data in expanding the online resource to document a broad array of planet-wide changes in the environment and human society.

The expanded dashboard from NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), includes six new focus areas – atmosphere, agriculture, biomass, water and ocean, cryosphere, and the economy – that allow users to drill down into data-driven stories and interactively explore relevant datasets.

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The dashboard provides an easy-to-use resource for the public scientists, decision-makers, and people who may not be familiar with satellite or Earth observation data. It offers a precise, objective, and comprehensive view of our planet. Using accurate remote sensing observations, the dashboard shows the changes occurring in Earth’s air, land, and water and their effects on human activities. Users can explore countries and regions around the world to see how the indicators in specific locations change over time.

The agencies collaborated to identify the most relevant satellite data streams and adapted existing computing infrastructure to share data from across the agencies and produce relevant indicators and stories.

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The atmosphere focus area demonstrates ways in which air pollution and climate change contribute to the biggest environmental challenges of our time.

In the agriculture focus area, users can explore satellite data that provides insights into agricultural production, crop conditions, and food supply.

The biomass focus area features a story describing how trees and plants remove substantial amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere each year.

In the cryosphere focus area, a story on the effects of global temperature rise on the extent of sea ice allows the reader to interact with a geographic visualization of a JAXA sea ice dataset.

The water and ocean area focuses on Earth’s largest natural resource and enables users to discover a view of the ocean that is as rich and complex as that of land.

The economy focus area provides access to datasets that show how Earth’s social and economic systems are connected to the environment.

In addition to the curated stories and dataset offered in each of the focus areas, the Earth Observing Dashboard provides direct access to a dataset exploration tool, which allows users to interactively explore the different indicators in detail.

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Last year, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced a concept for NASA’s Earth Information Center, which is an opportunity for the agency to leverage its data and modeling capabilities to work with trusted government and community partners with longstanding engagement in communities most affected by climate change. The expanded Earth Observing Dashboard complements planning that is underway for the Earth Information Center.

NASA, ESA and JAXA will continue to enhance the dashboard as new data become available.

Learn More, Read the Complete Announcement

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